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Politicians in the News: Media or Party Logic?

Media Attention and Electoral Success in the Belgian Election Campaign of 2003

University of Antwerp, peter.vanaelst{at}ua.ac.be

Bart Maddens

Centre for Political Research of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium

Jo Noppe

Centre for Political Research of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium

Stefaan Fiers

Centre for Political Research of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium

This study departs from the finding that media attention contributed to the electoral success of candidates in the Belgian election campaign of 2003. While the authors do find an impact of media attention on the number of preferential votes for each candidate, in this study they take a closer look at the elements that determine this media attention. Do the media autonomously decide which candidate gets more attention than others or do they follow the hierarchy determined by the parties? In other words: is the media's interest in a politician a consequence of a media logic or of a party logic? As the study's multivariate analysis clearly indicates, both logics are relevant, with the party logic outweighing the media logic. However, the question remains to what extent the parties have already incorporated a media logic in the selection of their political personnel.

Key Words: Belgian politics • election campaigns • media attention • media logic • news media

European Journal of Communication, Vol. 23, No. 2, 193-210 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0267323108089222


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