Exploring the link between media concentration and news content diversity using automated text analysis

Abstract

In this article, we explore the relationship between increased media market concentration and its effects on the diversity of news content. We assemble a dataset of 1,419,479 print and online ‘hard news’ articles published between 2018 and 2021 by the four largest newspapers in Flanders (Belgium). These include two popular and two quality titles owned by two rival media companies, which only emerged in recent years after a string of mergers and takeovers which fundamentally changed ownership diversity in the small yet increasingly concentrated Flemish media market. In our analysis, we compare articles for their similarity between titles belonging to the same company using automated text comparisons. We find that content is growing increasingly similar and expand the existing body of research on the link between media concentration and news (content) diversity in Flanders as well as beyond.

Social media news editors as journalists or marketeers: Who are they and how do they identify themselves?

“…Both Belgium and the Netherlands are classified in the Northern European or Democratic Corporatist Model in the influential typology of Hallin and Mancini (2004) in the Western European or Democratic Corporatist Model. Both markets are characterised by strong public service media (Picone and Donders, 2020), relatively high trust in mainstream media (Newman et al, 2022), rising popularity of alternative news outlets (Buyens and Van Aelst, 2022) and shared ownership structures, as nearly the entire Dutch newspaper market is owned by two Belgian corporations (Hendrickx and Van Remoortere, 2022).…”

Geography of News

“…This is important since media ownership consolidation leads to a decrease in source and content diversity. News outlets owned by the same organization are more likely to publish news of similar scope, focus, and diversity (Baum and Zhukov, 2019;Vogler et al, 2020;Hendrickx and van Remoortere, 2022). As the developments following Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter Inc. have also recently shown, ownership of media outlets (legacy or social media) can have significant consequences for how and which information is available to individuals.…”