Are newspapers’ news stories becoming more alike? Media content diversity in Belgium, 1983–2013

Abstract

In recent years, communication scholars have expressed concerns about the diversity of news media content. While we live in an era of ‘news abundance’ – the number of outlets and channels has increased enormously – the available news is argued to have become more of the same, but has it? As empirical evidence is lacking, this article verifies whether newspapers in Flanders (Belgium), over time, have indeed become less diverse in terms of the news stories they cover. Based on data from a longitudinal content analysis of nine Flemish newspapers at four points in time (1983, 1993, 2003, and 2013), it shows that (1) newspapers, in general, have not become more alike in terms of news stories; (2) newspapers with a similar profile (elite/popular) are less diverse than newspapers with dissimilar profiles; and (3) newspapers owned by the same media group (concentration of media ownership) are more alike than independently owned newspapers.