Regional press diversity in Germany and Austria from 1995-2015

The radical changes the media system is facing affect not only the national quality press but also the local and regional newspapers in Germany and Austria. From a communication policy perspective declining circulation, concentration of ownership, merging of titles, cooperation and even fusion of editorial units could be seen as dangers for the journalistic diversity in regional media markets where no relevant media alternatives exist. Assuming that national press policies in democratic nations aim at safeguarding journalistic diversity as a high ranked normative goal in applying different policy measures we employ a bi-national comparison (Austria and Germany) of the long term consequences (1995-2015) of different press policies and their consequences for the (1) regional market structures, the (2) regional journalistic diversity, and the (3) diversity of news coverage within a certain newspaper. Bringing together the lines of press concentration research, journalism quality and diversity research, and media policy research we analyse the structure of the regional press markets in both countries and their development over the past two decades based on secondary evaluations of press statistics as well as primary surveys and document analyses). On the basis of the concentration research we identify one stable regional newspaper market (without significant structural changes in terms of ownership, number of titles or editorial units) for each country and two dynamic regions where either concentration (Germany) or diversification (Austria) of the press has taken place. Additionally we reconstruct the individual organizational strategies of the relevant publishers from 1995-2015. Following, we will conduct a comparative longitudinal content analysis to study the status and the development of the journalistic diversity in the two dynamic regions in Austria and Germany in comparison with the diversity in stable regions of each country. In addition we can compare the internal journalistic diversity of a certain newspaper in relation to its (changing) market position.

Based on the state of research, the basic assumption of the study is that the regional press market structures in the Austria and Germany have developed differently from 1995-2015. Therefore, the following hypotheses were set up: H 1: In Germany, the number of newspaper issues has decreased in some regions, in others it has remained stable, but there has not been a significant increase in the number of newspaper issues from 1995-2015. APPROVED. H 2: In Austria, in the period 1995-2015, the number of newspaper issues remained stable in some regions, while in others it has even increased. APPROVED. In order to explore the possible journalistic consequences of the different market developments, we have formulated the following hypotheses on external diversity on the basis of the state of research and the assumptions of critical press concentration research: H 3: A decrease in newspaper issues (as observed in the selected North Rhine- Westphalian region of Arnsberg) leads to a reduction in content diversity, both in relation to this region over time and compared to the stable region in Germany (Pfalz). PARTIALLY CONFIRMED. H 4: An increase in newspaper issues (as observed in the Lower Austrian Region of Industrieviertel) leads to an increase in content diversity, both in relation to this region over time and in comparison to the stable region in Austria (province of Salzburg). NOT CONFIRMED. Media economic considerations on diversity suggest that internal journalistic diversity differs depending on market position, i.e. it may be necessary, in terms of competitive strategy, to create a higher internal diversity in order to better exploit the market. Monopoly providers or concentration processes could lead to a shift from external to internal diversity. This results in the following hypotheses: H 5: The internal content diversity increases when the market position of the so called Publizistische Einheiten or Published Units (or the publisher that finances it) has improved as a result of market concentration (as in North Rhine-Westphalia). This assumption applies both over time and in comparison with the stable region (Pfalz). NOT CONFIRMED. H 6: The internal content diversity of Published Units decreases as new market participants with Published Units join (as in Lower Austria). This applies both over time and in comparison with the stable region (Salzburg). NOT CONFIRMED.