Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Dutch journalism since 1945: collecting
and analysing large textual data sets with
commercial owners
Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
VU University Amsterdam
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Media Logic
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Media Logic and Mediatisation of Politics
ˆ
Media most important source of political information
ˆ
Media more independent of politics
ˆ
Media more dependent on markets
ˆ
Media more dependent on PR
(e.g. Stromback & Esser 2014; Wijfjes & Bardoel 2014; Brants & Van Praag 2006,
2009; Kleinnijenhuis 2006)
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Negative effects of media logic
ˆ
Negative and strategic framing leads to distrust
ˆ
Personalized coverage and focus on debate leads to
volatility
ˆ
Focus on opinion polls leads to non-substantive voting
ˆ
Infotainment instead of political information
ˆ
Politicians forced to join the game
ˆ
Short-term focus and symbolic responses
(e.g. Capella & Jamieson 1997; Patterson 1996, 2009; Walgrave & van Aelslt 2006;
Takens et al 2015)
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Is this all actually true?
(xkcd.com/1227/)
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Is this all actually true?
(xkcd.com/1227/)
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Let's do Research
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Where's my DeLorean?
ˆ
Many changes before 1990
ˆ
Most digital archives start after 1990
ˆ
KB digitization effort
ˆ
Telegraaf, 1949 - 1994
ˆ
More data coming (hopefully!)
ˆ
(VIDI grant)
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Preliminary results
ˆ
Van Atteveldt et al. (2015), Personalization in the
Netherlands, 1949 - now, ICA 2015
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Personalization
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Focus on party leaders
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Personal characteristics
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Private/Political context
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Personal life vs Issue news
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Connecting my data
ˆ
The good
ˆ
The bad
ˆ
The ugly
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
The good
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
The good
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
The bad
ˆ
Data is limited and fragmented
ˆ
Only Telegraaf so far
ˆ
1949 - 1994: KB
ˆ
1994 - 1999: Missing
ˆ
1999 - 2008: LexisNexis
ˆ
2008 - Now: scraped directly
ˆ
Problems:
ˆ
Technical effort
ˆ
Does that introduce biases?
ˆ
Who do we refer to for linked data?
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
The Ugly
ˆ
Copyright!
ˆ
KB digitization mostly focused on small papers
ˆ
Telegraaf blocks publication of >1994 articles
ˆ
NRC already digitized, but not published
ˆ
Professional archives expensive, not science friendly
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
The Ugly
ˆ
Copyright!
ˆ
KB digitization mostly focused on small papers
ˆ
Telegraaf blocks publication of >1994 articles
ˆ
NRC already digitized, but not published
ˆ
Professional archives expensive, not science friendly
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com
Mediatisation Empirical research Connecting my data
Connecting my data
ˆ
I like sharing my data!
ˆ
(github.com/amcat, vanatteveldt.com)
ˆ
I can't share the text
ˆ
Sharing linked data is limited
ˆ
Archives change
ˆ
Nexis has no public website
ˆ
Lots of effort for user
ˆ
No emergence of shared data, re-analysis
ˆ
In 2015, "Contact the author" is not sharing
Journalism since 1945 Wouter van Atteveldt http://vanatteveldt.com