Media Performance and Democracy

The public role of the media in a democratic society applies to the news sector above all others, since the quality of the news received will affect the ability of citizens to contribute to and participate in the decision-making processes which concern them. According to the recently published report of the High Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism, established by the European Commission in 2011, the news media have the duty to provide citizens with the information they need in order to participate in democratic processes. The definition of news quality, therefore, goes along with the functions of the media in a democracy. However, so far, there is no comprehensive study on the democratic performance of news media, its main factors of influence within the media and the political system, and against the background of audience behavior. The project breaks new ground in that it seeks to develop a standard instrument for the evaluation of the medias democratic performance, based on an international comparison of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Moreover, the project provides unique and novel perspectives in modelling the theoretical and methodological basis of research on media quality: The functions of public communication that are essential to democracy are defined according to an up-to-date-concept of democracy, which broadens the liberal conception of democracy (as established in the constitution of most Western countries) by elements of participatory theories of democracy: legitimacy through criticism and control, forum of political competition, integration of the citizenry. Thus, central standards for the evaluation of media performance can be derived from these functions: relevance, diversity and deliberation. Based on an extensive content analysis of political coverage, the research concept comprises all media types relevant to the formation of information and opinion, and it integrates the most important standards of media performance into one inquiry. The research concept uses media external benchmarks to assess media performance. In order to evaluate the performance concerning relevance, it will be determined how exhaustively or selectively the media cover issues related to the political agenda (government and parliamentary parties). In terms of diversity, the range of value frames in media coverage will be compared to the diversity of normative positions of parties and of different social milieus. Concerning deliberation, professional standards such as sophistication or references to opposing positions will be examined. The project merges research on media performance with comparative communication research two research areas that have been surprisingly unconnected by now. Focusing on highly similar cases with different outcomes and using multilevel modelling, comparative research helps to identify the political, economic and organizational factors that shape media performance. The results of the project are not only important to academia, but also to journalism practice and media policy.

Democracy needs news media - if people use news to fulfil certain communicative functions on which democracy is based. This leads to considerable expectations towards the media. Based on a wide range of media outlets from all four media sectors (print, radio, television, online) and a standardized set of indicators, the project "Media Performance and Democracy" analysed the democratic implications of media supply and usage in Austria. Content analysis revealed that, in general, media perform quite well in conveying to their audience the facts of a political event or issue and the respective positions of the parliamentary parties. However, they don't work nearly as well when it comes to providing a context for what's going on. Moreover, for the majority of media (with the exception of some online media), it can be observed that the better they act as "objective disseminators" in the interest of representative democracy, the less they are able to contextualize facts in such a way that media users understand them as issues relevant to their lives and thus as drivers of political engagement in the sense of a participatory understanding of democracy. Relating these results to an analysis of media usage, it becomes apparent that the expectations that specific audience groups have about the democratic functions of the media affect trust in the media to a highly significant extent. If the media used by the respective groups do not meet these expectations sufficiently, trust in the media declines. Based on data representative for the Austrian population (Digital News Report 2019), five classes of users could be determined, which differ in the media types used as information sources and the breadth and composition of their information repertoires. They also differ in socio-demographic terms and their interest in politics. Compared to a survey from 2008, the share of those two user classes with little political interest has increased from 27 to 44% (Light News User and Traditional Light Broadcast Users). Together with a class called Traditional News User in the middle interest area, the share amounts to 78%. The information repertoires of the two traditional user classes consist primarily - although differently weighted - of public service channels and tabloid newspapers (especially the Kronen-Zeitung). Those two classes with the strongest political interest and the broadest repertoires only account for 22%. Heavy News Users (7%) have the most pronounced representative orientation (which is somewhat weaker among traditional user groups), while online news users (15%) are closer to participatory democracy. The above-mentioned Light News User, who make up almost one-fifth of the population, also lean toward participatory democracy, but make little use of media. However, as the content analysis has shown, the media have little to offer these very people.