Mapping and Explaining Media Quality: Insights from Switzerland’s Multilingual Media System

Abstract

In this article, we analyse how various macro- and meso-level factors influence news media’s provision of hard news, an important element of media quality. The research draws on a content analysis of more than 100,000 news items between 2015 and 2019 from 53 print, radio, TV, and online news outlets in Switzerland, a small state with three linguistically segmented media markets, each of which is partially influenced by a large neighbouring country (Germany, France, and Italy). The research design takes into account the multi-dimensional character of hard news and allows for analysis with explanatory factors on different levels: On the meso-level, ownership types complemented with media types, and on the macro-level language regions of different market size. Findings show large differences in the importance of hard news overall and these findings are consistent across the three dimensions of hard news (topic dimension, focus dimension, style dimension). Hard news orientation differs especially between private and public media, but also within privately held media outlets, and less so within public media, which points to a general quality culture embedded within public media organizations. Thus, rather than by language region and the according media market size or by ownership types, quality differences can be best explained by media types.

Journalismus und Instagram

“…Welche Qualitätskriterien grundsätzlich entscheidend für die Evaluation aus Publikumsperspektive sind, ist von spezifischen Beitrags-und Rezipient*inneneigenschaften, beispielsweise Bildung, Mediennutzung und Themenwissen oder dem Medium, abhängig (Geiß, 2020;Jungnickel, 2011;Udris et al, 2020).…”

Transregional News Media Coverage in Multilingual Countries: The Impact of Market Size, Source, and Media Type in Switzerland

“…Switzerland's media system is clearly segmented among the language regions. Although some larger media companies own outlets in several language regions, news outlets popular in one language region are hardly used in other language regions (Udris et al 2020). News media face similar challenges when reporting on the language regions in Switzerland as they do when reporting on foreign countries or supranational organizations.…”

“…We also expect these patterns to hold true in the case of transregional reporting and assume that differences in transregional reporting will occur not necessarily among all news outlets, but by groups or types of news outlets that share similar structural features. In the Swiss context, we can distinguish between several media types that differ in business models and the type of journalism they produce (Udris et al 2020;Bachmann, Eisenegger, and Ingenhoff 2021). Tabloids and commuter papers are financed more (or exclusively) by advertising, target wide audiences, and typically conduct a soft newsoriented type of journalism.…”

“…Sunday and weekly newspapers fall between these media types in terms of business models, audience orientation, and the type of journalism they produce. The public service broadcaster (PSB), which also operates online news sites, is mainly publicly funded and is required by law to have diverse, substantial reporting, which it does according to content analyses (Udris et al 2020). The public service broadcaster also has a legal mandate to consider the interests of the language regions, that is, adequately covering them and contributing to national cohesion.…”

Formats and Genres: Collecting formal variables during content analysis

“…"Daily Newspaper", "Sunday News Paper", "Tabloids", etc.) (Bonfadelli 2002;fög -Forschungsinstitut Öffentlichkeit und Gesellschaft 2019;Rössler 2017;Strömbäck and van Aelst 2010;Udris et al 2020). "Genre" refers to the form of presentation or content of an article (e.g.…”