Journalism and the political structure

Helle Sjøvaag; Truls André Pedersen; Ole Martin Lægreid

doi:10.2478/nor-2019-0034

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Journalism and the political structure

Nordicom Review

Volume 40 (2019): Issue 2 (March 2019)

By: Helle Sjøvaag, Truls André Pedersen and Ole Martin Lægreid

Open Access

|Oct 2019

Figures & Tables

Table 1

Political topics

No.	Topic	Political sub-topic
26	The parliament and members of parliament	National politics
60	Negotiations to form Government
73	The national budget
123	The national budget
133	The Government and ministers
193	The Government and ministers
188	Political parties
49	Debate concerning the arming of police

56	Municipal reform	Area politics
69	Islam, Muslims and Muslim immigration
71	Climate change and international agreement
87	Debate concerning closing the airport at Rygge
164	Syrian refugees crossing Norwegian borders
177	Norwegian defence, debate concerning the Andøya Base
196	Railway strike

44	Municipal councils	Local politics
126	Municipal budgets
183	Municipal decisions
194	Municipal councils in Oslo and Bergen

62	The Syrian war	War/conflict
96	Russia and Russian foreign politics
103	The Israel/Palestine conflict
116	Turkey and Turkish conflicts
148	War in the Middle East

12	Mulla Krekar’s criminal status	Terrorism
143	Terrorism in France

3	The EU and EU politics	International politics
8	The Nobel Peace Prize
83	Brexit
88	Political elections around the world
140	Catalan independence
154	China and South-East Asia politics
181	The US presidential election

[i] Comment: Results from the LDA topic model including topic numbers, their topical label and corresponding political sub-topic. Note that some topics are present in more than one cluster.

Table A1

Descriptive statistics

Dependent variables	N	Mean	SD	Max
Hard news	181	0.37	0.15	0.87
Politics	181	0.14	0.10	0.50
Local politics	181	0.02	0.02	0.07
Hard news (ICC adjusted)	181	0.37	0.15	0.87
Politics (ICC adjusted)	181	0.05	0.05	0.21
Hard news (ICC adjusted)	181	0.37	0.15	0.87

Independent variables: Publisher-level	N	Mean	SD	Min	Max
Press support	181	0.44	0.50	0.00	1.00
Independent	181	0.29	0.46	0.00	1.00
State owned (NRK)	186	0.01	0.07	0.00	1.00
Circulation>20k	181	0.17	0.38	0.00	1.00
Editions per week>5	181	0.28	0.45	0.00	1.00
Alone in the market	181	0.57	0.50	0.00	1.00
Municipalities covered>2	164	0.50	0.50	0.00	1.00
Scrape date	181	20659.86	127.26	20367.00	21108.70
Scrape hour	181	13.53	1.69	5.50	17.36

Independent variables: Municipality-level	N	Mean	SD	Min	Max
Unemployment	161	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.04
Unemployment growth	161	0.00	0.00	-0.01	0.02
Population	161	97090.98	1.94e+05	1330.50	6.53e+05
Latitude	161	61.58	3.27	58.03	70.95
Longitude	161	10.12	4.32	5.03	30.04
Votes for incumbent	161	0.57	0.12	0.29	0.88

[i] * p<0.1, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01

Table A2

Bivariate regression models (publisher-level independent variables)

				Independent variables
	Press support	Independent	State owned (NRK)	Alone in the market	Municipalities covered>2	Circulation >20k	Editions per week>5	Press support* Circulation	Press support* Editions per week
Dependent variable: Hard news
b	-0.021	0.037	0.195***	-0.034	0.032	0.035	0.043*	0.061	0.196***
se	(0.019)	(0.030)	(0.016)	(0.028)	(0.029)	(0.038)	(0.024)	(0.058)	(0.052)
r²	0.006	0.013	0.013	0.014	0.014	0.009	0.021	0.014	0.085
N	157	157	157	157	157	157	157	157	157
Dependent variable: Politics
b	-0.021	0.031	0.133***	-0.036	0.024	0.037	0.035**	0.150***	0.187***
se	(0.014)	(0.021)	(0.013)	(0.026)	(0.019)	(0.023)	(0.016)	(0.030)	(0.047)
r²	0.014	0.022	0.014	0.039	0.018	0.025	0.034	0.075	0.172
N	157	157	157	157	157	157	157	157	157
Dependent variable: Local politics
b	-0.004	-0.013***	0.006***	0.000	0.001	0.006**	0.007***	-0.009***	0.008
se	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.001)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.003)	(0.002)	(0.003)	(0.006)
r²	0.015	0.126	0.001	0.000	0.001	0.021	0.046	0.033	0.057
N	157	157	157	157	157	157	157	157	157
Dependent variable: Area politics
b	-0.010**	0.012	0.022***	-0.013	0.011*	0.009	0.010**	0.082***	0.045**
se	(0.004)	(0.007)	(0.004)	(0.008)	(0.006)	(0.006)	(0.004)	(0.005)	(0.020)
r²	0.025	0.022	0.003	0.037	0.026	0.011	0.020	0.126	0.088
N	157	157	157	157	157	157	157	157	157

[i] *p<0.1, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01

Comment: Constituent terms are included in the models gauging interaction effects but they are excluded from the table.

Table A3

Bivariate regression models (municipality-level independent variables)

		Independent	variables
Unemployment		Unemployment growth	Population	Latitude	Longitude	Votes for incumbent
Dependent variable: Hard news
b	0.315	-5.048*	0.000***	0.015***	0.014***	0.012
se	(1.980)	(2.869)	(0.000)	(0.004)	(0.003)	(0.115)
r²	0.000	0.029	0.113	0.129	0.208	0.000
N	156	156	156	156	156	156

Dependent variable: Politics
b	-0.522	-4.755**	0.000***	0.008***	0.009***	0.008
se	(1.313)	(2.020)	(0.000)	(0.003)	(0.002)	(0.089)
r²	0.001	0.061	0.205	0.087	0.178	0.000
N	156	156	156	156	156	156

Dependent variable: Local politics
b	0.066	-0.278	0.000**	0.000	0.001*	-0.000
se	(0.182)	(0.215)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.010)
r²	0.001	0.007	0.007	0.001	0.028	0.000
N	156	156	156	156	156	156

Dependent variable: Area politics
b	-0.309	-1.886***	0.000***	0.003***	0.004***	-0.017
se	(0.484)	(0.691)	(0.000)	(0.001)	(0.001)	(0.025)
r²	0.003	0.070	0.090	0.080	0.228	0.004
N	156	156	156	156	156	156

[i] * p<0.1, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01

Table A4

Multivariate regression models (publisher-level independent variables)

				Independent	variables
	Hard news		Politics		Local politics		Area politics
Press support	-0.008	-0.031	-0.022	-0.039**	0.001	-0.002	-0.015***	-0.016**
	(0.026)	(0.027)	(0.017)	(0.017)	(0.003)	(0.003)	(0.006)	(0.006)
Independent	0.054*	0.047	0.046*	0.037*	-0.013***	-0.013***	0.016**	0.013*
	(0.030)	(0.029)	(0.024)	(0.020)	(0.003)	(0.003)	(0.008)	(0.007)
State owned (NRK)	0.196***	0.167***	0.133***	0.098***	0.001	0.001	0.025***	0.013
	(0.052)	(0.045)	(0.031)	(0.029)	(0.005)	(0.004)	(0.006)	(0.009)
Circulation>20k	-0.009	0.010	-0.012	0.014	0.005	0.004	-0.013*	-0.001
	(0.039)	(0.036)	(0.021)	(0.021)	(0.003)	(0.003)	(0.006)	(0.006)
Editions per week>5	0.045	0.004	0.029	-0.010	0.005	0.001	0.004	-0.004
	(0.030)	(0.028)	(0.023)	(0.020)	(0.003)	(0.003)	(0.005)	(0.008)
Alone in the market	-0.020	-0.013	-0.021	-0.015	0.000	0.001	-0.009	-0.008
	(0.024)	(0.024)	(0.018)	(0.017)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.006)	(0.006)
Municipalities covered>2	0.010	0.010	0.002	0.003	-0.001	-0.001	0.004	0.005
	(0.026)	(0.025)	(0.017)	(0.015)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.006)	(0.006)
Scrape date	-0.000	-0.000	-0.000*	-0.000*	0.000**	0.000**	0.000	0.000
	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)
Scrape hour	0.095*	0.067	0.052*	0.022	0.008*	0.007	-0.005	-0.014
	(0.048)	(0.048)	(0.028)	(0.031)	(0.005)	(0.005)	(0.009)	(0.013)
Scrape hour * Scrape hour	-0.004*	-0.002	-0.002*	-0.001	-0.000*	-0.000	0.000	0.001
	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.001)	(0.001)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.001)
Press support * Circulation>20k	0.108*		0.171***		-0.009**		0.082***
	(0.059)		(0.030)		(0.004)		(0.008)
Press support * Editions per		0.164***		0.164***		0.011		0.040**
week>5		(0.058)		(0.043)		(0.007)		(0.019)
_cons	2.114	2.166	1.885	1.965	-0.479**	-0.483**	0.015	0.052
	(2.022)	(1.917)	(1.271)	(1.208)	(0.208)	(0.211)	(0.641)	(0.636)
r²	0.121	0.153	0.196	0.239	0.206	0.216	0.196	0.147
N	157	157	157	157	157	157	157	157

[i] " p<0.1, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01

Table A5

Multivariate regression models (municipality-level independent variables)

	Hard news	Politics	Local politics	Area politics
Unemployment	1.502	-0.082	0.020	-0.128
	(1.617)	(0.858)	(0.188)	(0.426)
Unemployment growth	0.276	-0.825	0.020	-0.188
	(2.360)	(1.280)	(0.242)	(0.453)
Population	0.000***	0.000***	0.000	0.000***
	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)
Latitude	0.008*	0.003	-0.001**	-0.001
	(0.004)	(0.003)	(0.001)	(0.001)
Longitude	0.011***	0.007***	0.001***	0.004***
	(0.004)	(0.002)	(0.000)	(0.001)
Votes for incumbent	0.129	0.111*	0.007	0.017
	(0.088)	(0.061)	(0.010)	(0.015)
_cons	-0.362	-0.210	0.070**	0.040
	(0.235)	(0.150)	(0.032)	(0.063)
r²	0.360	0.421	0.060	0.333
N	156	156	156	156

[i] * p<0.1, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01

Table 2

Multivariate regression models

	Hard news	Politics		Local politics	Area politics
Press support	-0.020	-0.017	-0.029	0.001	-0.012***	-0.012**
	(0.026)	(0.019)	(0.018)	(0.003)	(0.004)	(0.005)
Independent		0.009	0.006	-0.015***
		(0.018)	(0.016)	(0.003)
State owned (NRK)	0.026	0.023	0.008	-0.009***	0.000	-0.016***
	(0.023)	(0.030)	(0.024)	(0.003)	(0.005)	(0.004)
Circulation		-0.023	-0.010	0.004	-0.012*
		(0.023)	(0.020)	(0.003)	(0.007)
Editions per week	-0.015	0.009	-0.014	0.001		-0.009
	(0.026)	(0.021)	(0.019)	(0.003)		(0.006)
Press support*		0.073***		-0.017***	0.056***
Circulation		(0.022)		(0.004)	(0.007)
Press support*	0.066		0.096***			0.021
Editions per week	(0.046)		(0.036)			(0.017)
Scrape hour	0.084*	0.050*	0.034	0.008*
	(0.045)	(0.027)	(0.028)	(0.005)
Scrape hour^²	-0.003	-0.002*	-0.001	-0.000
	(0.002)	(0.001)	(0.001)	(0.000)
Unemployment growth		-0.829	-0.725		-0.124	-0.161
		(1.103)	(1.072)		(0.425)	(0.423)
Population	0.000***	0.000***	0.000***	0.000***	0.000***	0.000***
	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)
Latitude	0.005	0.004	0.003		-0.000	-0.001
	(0.004)	(0.003)	(0.003)		(0.001)	(0.001)
Longitude	0.011***	0.006**	0.006***	0.001***	0.004***	0.004***
	(0.004)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.000)	(0.001)	(0.001)
_cons	-0.680**	-0.484**	-0.324	-0.041*	0.019	0.042
	(0.335)	(0.207)	(0.231)	(0.025)	(0.057)	(0.059)
r²	0.403	0.440	0.462	0.247	0.383	0.353
N	156	156	156	156	156	156

[i] * p<0.1, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01

Table A6

Robustness test with ICC-adjusted dependent variables

	Hard news	Politics		Local politics	Area politics
Press support	-0.020	-0.004	-0.012	0.001	-0.004***	-0.004**
	(0.026)	(0.009)	(0.008)	(0.002)	(0.001)	(0.002)
Independent		0.005	0.004	-0.010***
		(0.010)	(0.009)	(0.002)
State owned	0.026	0.010	0.008	-0.011***	-0.001	-0.006***
(NRK)	(0.023)	(0.016)	(0.013)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.001)
Circulation		-0.010	-0.005	0.002	-0.004
		(0.013)	(0.012)	(0.002)	(0.003)
Editions per	-0.015	0.013	0.001	-0.001		-0.002
week	(0.026)	(0.011)	(0.010)	(0.002)		(0.002)
Press support*		0.010		-0.010***	0.021***
Circulation		(0.012)		(0.002)	(0.003)
Press support*	0.066		0.048**			0.008
Editions per week	(0.046)		(0.023)			(0.006)
Scrape hour	0.084*	0.026*	0.019	0.006**
	(0.045)	(0.013)	(0.015)	(0.003)
Scrape hour^²	-0.003	-0.001*	-0.001	-0.000*
	(0.002)	(0.001)	(0.001)	(0.000)
Unemployment		-0.142	-0.099		0.016	0.004
growth		(0.428)	(0.413)		(0.154)	(0.152)
Population	0.000***	0.000***	0.000***	0.000***	0.000***	0.000***
	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)
Latitude	0.005	0.003**	0.003*		-0.000	-0.000
	(0.004)	(0.001)	(0.001)		(0.000)	(0.000)
Longitude	0.011***	0.001	0.001	0.000***	0.001***	0.001***
	(0.004)	(0.001)	(0.001)	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)
_cons	-0.680**	-0.308***	-0.239*	-0.027*	0.016	0.024
	(0.335)	(0.113)	(0.124)	(0.014)	(0.022)	(0.023)
r²	0.403	0.417	0.446	0.176	0.387	0.351
N	156	156	156	156	156	156

[i] * p<0.1, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01

Table A7

Robustness test with fractional regression

	Hard news	Politics		Local politics	Area politics
Press support	-0.091 (0.112)	-0.136 (0.187)	-0.293 (0.187)	0.156 (0.212)	-0.352*** (0.098)	-0.332*** (0.117)
Independent		0.097 (0.196)	0.083 (0.176)	-1.569*** (0.336)
State owned (NRK)	0.078 (0.101)	0.144 (0.276)	0.036 (0.226)	-1.162*** (0.157)	-0.037 (0.129)	-0.313*** (0.076)
Editions per week		-0.170 (0.238)	-0.086 (0.210)	0.193 (0.257)	-0.267 (0.172)
Circulation	-0.063 (0.110)	0.229 (0.167)	0.017 (0.182)	-0.031 (0.173)		-0.127 (0.141)
Press support* Circulation		0.230 (0.255)		-1.216*** (0.249)	0.939*** (0.173)
Press support* Editions per week	0.267 (0.187)		0.598** (0.283)			0.491* (0.288)
Scrape hour	0.408* (0.217)	0.562 (0.409)	0.403 (0.427)	0.681** (0.316)
Scrape hour^²	-0.014 (0.009)	-0.023 (0.017)	-0.016 (0.018)	-0.028** (0.014)
Unemployment growth		-4.356 (10.703)	-2.547 (10.608)		-11.396 (11.963)	-12.128 (12.028)
Population	0.000*** (0.000)	0.000*** (0.000)	0.000*** (0.000)	0.000*** (0.000)	0.000*** (0.000)	0.000*** (0.000)
Latitude	0.022 (0.017)	0.072** (0.028)	0.066** (0.030)		-0.022 (0.030)	-0.032 (0.032)
Longitude	0.049*** (0.016)	0.014 (0.022)	0.016 (0.022)	0.051*** (0.015)	0.087*** (0.018)	0.092*** (0.018)
_cons	-5.308*** (1.567)	-11.226*** (2.756)	-9.849*** (2.997)	-9.208*** (1.733)	-3.873** (1.734)	-3.295* (1.803)
N	156	156	156	156	156	156

[i] * p<0.1, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01

Box plots of weighted and unweighted interclass correlations for selected topic categories

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2019-0034 | Journal eISSN: 2001-5119 | Journal ISSN: 1403-1108

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Language: English

Page range: 63 - 89

Published on: Oct 25, 2019

Published by: University of Gothenburg Nordicom

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

local news media,

media systems,

political journalism,

LDA,

statistical analysis

Related subjects:

Social sciences,

Communication science,

Mass communication,

Public and political communication

© 2019 Helle Sjøvaag, Truls André Pedersen, Ole Martin Lægreid, published by University of Gothenburg Nordicom
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Volume 40 (2019): Issue 2 (March 2019)

Journalism and the political structure

Figures & Tables

Figure 1

Figure A1

Table 1

Table A1

Table A2

Table A3

Table A4

Table A5

Table 2

Table A6

Table A7

Figure A2

Figure A3

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