Politicians in the News: Media or Party Logic?

Abstract

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.