Content Competition in TV News Shows

A Comparative Analysis of Public Service Broadcast and Commercial TV News shows

from Germany, Switzerland, the UK, the United States, South Africa
and Arab Satellite TV

Paper presented to the RIPE@2006 Conference

Amsterdam/Hilversum, November 24-26th 2006

Dr. Christian Kolmer M.A.

MEDIA TENOR Deutschland GmbH
Am Kurpark 7
53173 Bonn
Deutschland

FAX: 0228 9 34 44 93
E-mail: c.kolmer@mediatenor.de
1. Introduction: Do TV news shows compete for audience?

Private TV stations compete for advertising revenue by offering airtime to corporate

clients. Competition takes place on several levels, ranging from the program structure in terms

of different genres as well as of weekly and intra-daily timing to the content structures of

single programs and the presentation styles. Programming has evolved over time, changing

from the strategy of addressing audiences as large as possible to the differentiated targeting of

selected parts of the audience, separated by their demographic structure and consumer

behavior. Audience research, offering concise insight into the preferences of various publics,

has become the main tool for programming.1

Public service broadcasters (PSB), although only partly dependent on advertising revenue,

have not escaped this development. On the contrary, in some countries, for instance in

Germany, the introduction of private TV programs has resulted in notable competition

between private and public broadcasters, involving entertainment and information programs

as well. Public service broadcasters have reacted to the threat from private competition by

highlighting their information competence. This approach is related to two different

arguments: On one hand, TV stations aspire to tie potential viewers to their program. Viewers

starting their TV session with the news on one channel might be enticed to stay on this

program for the rest of the evening. This strategy has been invalidated by emergence of

zapping show, but nevertheless main evening news with a strong audience might yield

some advantage in competition for the subsequent airtime. Consequently, strategic program

marketing can be at least observed in news shows,2 for instance on Germanys main evening

1
Wehmeier, Stefan. Fernsehen im Wandel, Konstanz 1998, p. 184ff.
2
Weinacht, S., Khne, C. & Schmittfull, H.: Stell Dir vor, es gibt Synergiemglichkeiten und keiner nutzt sie.
Empirische Untersuchungen zum Einfluss der Medienunternehmen auf die Thematisierung von Medien. Poster
prsentiert auf der Jahrestagung "Medien in der Marktwirtschaft. Wie Wirtschaft die ffentliche Kommunikation
und ffentliche Kommunikation die Wirtschaft prgt" der Deutschen Gesellschaft fr Publizistik und
Kommunikationswissenschaft am 18. und 19. Juni 2006 in Dresden.

2
news show ARD Tagesschau, references to the talk program Sabine Christiansen are

broadcast in every Sunday issue.

On the other hand, public service broadcasters are bound to maintain and emphasize their

information competence in order to meet their public commission. German law for example

mandates public TV stations to assure the basic supply of information services to society,

encompassing general reception, plurality and diversity of opinion as well as the satisfaction

of the information necessities of the public.3 Maintaining a high quality standard in its

information programs therefore is of utmost importance for public service broadcasters,

demonstrating their raison dtre in the long run as well as the entitlement to the license fee in

the short view.

In Germany, the emergence of private TV had a marked impact on the style and content of

TV news. The process of change in program structures and content has been discussed under

the term of convergence, indicating an adaptation of public TV programs to the model of

their private competitors.4 Additionally public TV in Germany reacted to the threat from

private competition with the import of new types of news programming, taking some cues

from U.S. news formats. So called news magazines, broadcast later in the evening,

dispensed with the classic news reader by introducing an American type anchorman. By

allocating resources and promotion especially to these programs, public TV stations aimed at

underpinning their claimed information competence. This strategy remains as valid as in the

1990s: When Ulrich Wickert, the anchormen of ARDs Tagesthemen news magazine retired

this summer, this change was marketed offensively both within the program as well as in

numerous print publications.

3
BVerfGE 73, 118 Niedersachsen (1986); BVerfGE 74, 297 Baden-Wrttemberg (1987); BVerfGE 83, 238
WDR (1991)
4
Krger, Udo Michael: Zur Konvergenz ffentlich-rechtlicher und privater Fernsehprogramme. Entstehung und
Gehalt einer Hypothese, Rundfunk und Fernsehen 1/1991, p. 83-96.

3
 Recently the evolvement of new internet-based media has markedly broadened the scope

of potential competition to Public Service Broadcasting, ranging from live-streams to web

logs. Some of these news genres and structures have been perceived as superior alternatives to

PSB.5 Mainstream media, including private and public broadcasters have reacted to this

development in several ways, ranging from the adoption of new channels and multimedia

features to classic marketing campaigns.6

Germanys first program, ARD, has stuck to its strategy of quality leadership and claims to

be a producer of prized and valuable programs a surplus for society.7 From this

presumption, the director of NDR, the station responsible for the main news of ARD,

concludes that emphasizing this surplus is of crucial importance for the legitimation of public

service broadcasting in Germany. ARD accordingly has demonstrated its reclaimed

superiority in several studies, encompassing audience research as well as analyses of the

overall program structure and the content of the news shows.8 Nevertheless, private TV

rejects part of this claim with reference to the wishes of the audience. The debate involves not

only the definition of information programs, but also the different requirements of particular

audiences. The competition between public and private broadcasters has among other

developments given rise to the phenomenon of infotainment, which has changed its

meaning from a threat to democracy into to the adequate program format for the 21st century.9

Public service broadcasters recently had to cope with rising costs, not only for the

production of fiction programs but also in the area of information and news programs.

5
This has been especially marked for web logs, cf. Reynolds, Glenn: An Army of Davids: How Markets and
Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths, Nashville/TN
2006.
6
E.g. ZDF with its claim Mit dem Zweiten sieht man besser [A better view with the second program].
7
Plog, Jobst: Mehr Wert fr Alle, ARD Jahrbuch 2005, Baden-Baden 2005, p. 15-22, p. 15.
8
Krger, Udo-Michael: Fernsehnachrichten bei ARD, ZDF, RTL und SAT.1: Strukturen, Themen und
Akteure: Jahresbilanz 2005 des InfoMonitors, MediaPerspektiven 2/2006, p. 50-74.
9
Postman, Neil: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, New York 1985.

4
Maintaining own correspondents in many international locations has become very

expensive.10 The role of international TV news agencies has grown accordingly.11 The effect

of financial constraints is for instance visible in shrinking time budget for current affairs

programs in the ARD TV channels.12

Despite the marked differences between public and private TV broadcasters in terms of

program structure and news content, competition seems to continue to be an important

element of programming, at least in Germany. In its 2005 year book, ARD addresses the

competition with other media consistently, one chapter even sports the heading Respect the

dignity of the individual in a competitive situation. This is not without reason, because

demographic change and structural evolution of the media system continuously reduce the

audience of public TV news, for instance of ARDs flagship Tagesschau, whose market share

decreased slightly from 6.11 to 5.9% from 2003 to 2004, while at the same time, SAT.1 and

ProSieben News could increase their audience.13 Analysis of competition between different

channels is complicated by the diachronity of the news shows, as for example the private TV

news named above, are not broadcast at 20:00, the time of Tagesschau, and thus do not

compete head-on with ARD.

The impact of competitive thinking has also been evident in stylistic changes in the public

news programs, affecting among others the use of film reports, the design of the news show

and the role of the presenters. In 2006, even Tagesschau went out of its traditional way,

changing from a sitting newsreader to a standing speaker.

10
For the cost constraints of public service broadcasters in Germany: Kommission zur Ermittlung des
Finanzbedarfs der Rundfunkanstalten: 15. Bericht, Mainz 2005.
11
Paterson, Chris: News Agency Dominance in International News on the Internet, Papers in International and
Global Communication 1/2006.
12
http://www.faz.net/s/RubF7538E273FAA4006925CC36BB8AFE338/
Doc~E9FCD0770B3E64A8EB8AC128A8737B45C~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html
13
http://www.ard.de/intern/basisdaten/fernsehnutzung/zuschauer_20und_20marktanteile_20der_20fernsehna/-
/id=55062/1a2pojg/index.html

5
2. Study Design

The relevance of previous research has been restricted by the incongruous and insufficient

data basis, in most cases consisting of only small samples of single weeks per year.

Nevertheless recent research found indicators for a process of tabloidization of TV news.14

This study examines this thesis on a national level looking at private and public TV over time,

as well as in an international comparative perspective. It therefore combines a long-time

comparison of public and private TV in Germany with a cross-country approach for the year

2006. The paper refers to the continuous content analysis of the main evening news of two

public and three private TV programs conducted by the Media Tenor research institute

starting in summer 1994 and continued until the present. News selection in TV programming

is to a certain extent different from the process in other media especially in the daily

newspapers. A meaningful comparison of news structures between TV and print media should

take account of three criteria:

the ownership structure, i.e. public vs. private TV

the chosen format of the news program

the national framework of news programming (legal, political and economic

structures)

This paper examines the impact of the changing media environment on the style and

content of the information flagships of PSB and commercial TV stations, namely the prime

time evening news. The analysis is based on the continuous content analysis of news

programs in Germany, the United States, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, South Africa and

of Arab satellite TV. While data collection started in Germany in August 1994 and has been

continued to the present, the other countries named above have been introduced

14
Donsbach, Wolfgang & Bttner, Karin: Boulevardisierungstrends in deutschen Fernsehnachrichten. Darstel-
lungsmerkmale der Politikberichterstattung vor den Bundestagswahlen 1983, 1990 und 1998, Publizistik 50
(1/2005), p. 21-38.

6
consecutively. Presentation styles, topic and protagonist structures are analyzed on the story

level. Framing of news is additionally taken into account, examining the tone and topic

structure in business coverage.

3. Methodology

For the period of January to August 2006 this study draws on the comprehensive content

analysis of a total 150,944 stories in 32 news shows or news magazines:

Germany ARD Tagesschau (Public TV / News show)

ZDF heute (19:00) (Public TV / News show)
RTL Aktuell (Private TV / News show)
SAT.1 News (Private TV / News show)
ProSieben Newstime (Private TV / News show)
ARD Tagesthemen (Public TV / News magazine)
ZDF heute journal (Public TV / News magazine)
CH SF DRS Tagesschau (Public TV / News show)
UK BBC 1 News (18:00) (Public TV / News show)
BBC 1 Ten o'clock News (Public TV / News show)
ITV Evening News (Private TV / News show)
ITV News at 10:30 (Private TV / News show)
BBC 2 Newsnight (Public TV / News magazine)
USA NBC (Private TV / News show)
ABC (Private TV / News show)
CBS (Private TV / News show)
Fox (Private TV / News show)
Arab TV Al-Arabiyah (Dubai) (Private TV / News show)
Nile News (Egypt) (Public TV / News show)
Al Alam (Iran) (Public TV / News show)
LBC (Lebanon) (Private TV / News show)
Al Manar (Lebanon) (Private TV / News show)
Al-Ikhbariyah (Saudi Arabia) (Public TV / News show)
Al Jazeera (Quatar) (Private TV / News show)

7
 RSA SABC 2 News (Afrikaans, public TV / News show)
SABC 3 News (English, public TV / News show)
SABC 1 News (Zulu/Xhosa, public TV / News show)
SABC 1 News (Sotho, public TV / News show)
E-TV (Private TV / News show)

For the long-time analysis 471,712 news stories from ARD Tagesthemen and Tagesschau,

ZDF heute journal and heute (19:00), RTL Aktuell, SAT.1 News/18:30 and ProSieben

Newstime have been analyzed from January 1999 to August 2005.

The content of the news stories has been analyzed on story level by the means of a

systematic content analysis by trained coders, which are working for MEDIA TENOR on

permanent basis. Quality control is maintained by regular reliability tests and ongoing spot

checks. Overall agreement between coders and pattern solutions in August 2006 equaled

88.8% in August 2006.15 News stories are defined by their style, e.g. a change from

newsreader to film report constitutes a news story, even if both entities deal with the same

content matter. The analysis of topic structures on the story level concerning the main topic of

story the codebook at present provides for more than 3.000 topics organized in a hierarchy of

issues.

For the analysis of business reporting, the reporting about all companies has been

examined on the story level: Reporting about all companies and management persons, which

were presented or described for at least five seconds, has been analyzed in terms of tone and

topic structure.

15
MEDIA TENOR 156, p. 2.

8
4. Results

4.1. Topic Structures in German TV Long-time Comparison

The overview of the topic structure reveals marked differences between public and

private programs, whereas the distinctions between news shows and news magazines for

ARD and ZDF are confined to few fields of content matter (chart 1).

Share of all stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

Chart 1: Topic structure in German TV news

Values/Ideologies
Party politics
Crime
Terrorism/Domestic security
Domestic policy
Foreign affairs
International conflicts/War
Economy/Public Policy
Business
Social affairs
Culture
Energy/Traffic/Science
History
Sports
Human interests/Accidents
other topics

0% 5% 10% 15% 20%

PSB magazines PSB news Private news

Basis: 250.210 news stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

While PSB news dedicates a high share of its reporting to political issues ranging

from party politics over domestic policy and economic policy to foreign affairs including

reporting about the ongoing international conflicts, especially in the Middle East. In all of

these fields, private TV news show display notably less reporting. In social affairs social

security, old age provision, housing and healthcare , culture and energy policy, transport

and science the differences are less marked.

The topic structure of private TV news confirms to the results of previous research:

Non-political crime, accidents, natural disasters and human interest news account for a big

9
 part of the newscast. Sports news on the other hand, another main ingredient of

infotainment contributes to a comparable share of reporting in PSB and private news

shows, with 17.5 and 18.6% of all news stories respectively.16

Differences between the PSB early evening news shows and the news magazines

broadcast later in the evening related mainly to two field, business reporting and party

politics. The news magazines, which declaredly aim to present background information,

are especially dedicated to political reporting, with the share of political news approaching

50%.17 This dominance reflects the integration of Germanys public service broadcasters

into the political system, by the means of supervisory boards that are dominated by

representatives of social interest groups more or less affiliated to the leading German

parties. Routine procedures of news production lead to political reporting along the lines of

party orientation: Party politics proper accordingly accounts for almost 10% of all stories

in the news magazines, getting more reporting than either domestic policy or economic

policy. Another focus of the news magazines lies on business reports that account for more

than 12% of the newscast.

Summing up, these differences indicate a diverse orientation of public and private

stations, targeting different audiences. Nevertheless competition is possible in such an

environment and can only be observed over time. In order to make a meaningful

comparison over time, the main topic fields have been arranged in three dimensions,

looking at the thematic preferences of public and private programs. A third dimension

relates to a dominating element of TV news, namely reporting about international conflicts

and terrorism issues that affect both types of programs and disrupt routine structures of

16
Krger (2006), p. 51ff.
17
http://intern.tagesschau.de/flash/index.html; cf. Krger (2006), p. 51ff.

10
reporting, while at the same time giving rise to new routines. The 16 thematic fields

detailed in chart 1 are arrange in the following three dimensions:

Infotainment: Non-political crime, Sports, Human

Interest/Accidents/Natural Disasters

Politics: Party Politics, Domestic Policy, Economy/Public Policy, Social

Affairs

War Terrorism: Terrorism/Domestic Security, International Conflicts/War

Looking at the salience of each of these three dimensions shows only few instances of

convergence between public and private programs. Global changes in the topic structure

affect the programs in different ways in regard to the three dimensions selected for

analysis.

The share of infotainment for instance did not change in a marked way in the public

programs since 2001 (chart 2), exceeding a ceiling of 30% only in 2002, the year when

Share of all stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

Chart 2: Visibility of the Infotainment, Germany

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

PSB magazines PSB news Private news

Basis: 250.210 news stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

11
 floods in Eastern Germany even overshadowed the campaign for the federal elections in

Germany. 2003 too marked the high point of infotainment in private TV news, while the

share remained rather stable in the following years. Reporting about crime and accidents

seems to have reached a plateau level, controlled by routine procedures that provide for a

constant selection from the worldwide flow of suitable events.

Sports news on the other hand shows a different pattern over time (chart 3). From 2002

to 2003 the share of sports reports in private TV news dropped notably, reflecting the

pullout of SAT.1 from soccer reporting for financial reasons. With the discontinuation of

its dominant national sports program, SAT.1 had obviously less incentives for cross-

promotion in the evening news.

Share of all stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

Chart 3: Visibility of sports stories in German TV news

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

PSB magazines PSB news Private news

Basis: 250.210 news stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

While the special field of sports reporting in the evening news thus shows sort of

convergence between public and private programs, differences between the two groups

remained rather stable in the field of war/terrorism. Global changes of the intensity of

12
reporting relate primarily to global events, e.g. the Iraq war of 2003, that was preceded by

an unparalleled build-up of media resources in the theatre of war (chart 4).

Share of all stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

Chart 4: Visibility of War/Terrorism dimension, Germany

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

PSB magazines PSB news Private news

Basis: 250.210 news stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

Private TV news consistently dedicated about 6% points less of its newscast to reports

from the hot spots of international politics.

The growing sense of crisis in Germany on the other hand seems to have contributed to

a tangible increase in political reporting in a broader sense. While party politics proper

remained a domain of the public broadcasters, reporting about political issues involving

additionally domestic policy, economy/public policy and social affairs increased for more

than 6% between 2001 and 2005 in private TV news (chart 5).

The rather unobtrusive changes in terms of content between 2001 and 2005 suggest a

stable situation in the competition between public and private news. This view is

corroborated by the observation of stylistic differences. The overall share of visual news

13
 Share of all stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

Chart 5: Visibility of the Politics dimension, German TV

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

PSB magazines PSB news Private news

Basis: 250.210 news stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

with film reports or life talks to correspondents on the ground increased in all three groups

of programs analyzed. Nevertheless, private TV led in this development, while public

broadcasters reacted with a marked time lag.

Share of all stories in 7 German TV news programs, 08/1994 08/2005

Chart 6: Share of news stories with filmed content

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

PSB magazines PSB news Private news

Basis: 471,712 news stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/1999 08/2005

14
4.2. Foreign News in German TV

TV news from abroad account for nearly half of the newscast in all three types of news

programs analyzed (chart 7). The differences between public TV news magazines and

news shows on one hand and private TV news shows on the other hand are marginal.

Nevertheless, over the long run, some differences can be observed.

Share of all stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

Chart 7: Share of foreign news in German TV

Public TV: News Magazines Public TV: News Shows Private TV: News Shows

47,9% 47,8% 48,8%

52,1% 52,2% 51,2%

Domestic news Foreign news

Basis: 250.210 news stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

Whereas in private news the share of foreign news was rather stable over time,

fluctuating between 46.7% and 50.7%, variance in public TV programs was notably

higher, 44.7% and 50.9% in the case of the news magazines (chart 8). These differences

can be probably traced back to a different role of foreign news in public and private TV.

Taking into account the topic structure of foreign news, that reflects rather accurately the

pattern of domestic news (chart 9), two models of foreign news selection emerge: While

private TV stations select foreign news on the merit of their sensational value, public TV

reflects the political agenda. In so far foreign policy including international conflicts

was of notable importance in the political discussion in Germany, especially in the context

15
 Share of all stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

Chart 8: Share of foreign news in German TV

60%

55%

50%

45%

40%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

PSB magazines PSB news Private news

Basis: 250.210 news stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

of the 2003 war in Iraq, activities of the political protagonists were followed closely by

public news. While the 2002 election caused a notable drop in the visibility of foreign

news, the preoccupation with the situation in Iraq, caused by the political debate about

Germanys position towards the United States, played itself out in a notably higher share of

foreign news coverage in 2004.

Summing up, several factors influencing the news structures of public and private TV

emerges. Both groups are affected by developments in the real world in a different way:

While private TV reproduces a certain amount of infotainment in an ongoing way, public

TV follows the political agenda much more closely. Both types of programs therefore

select and interpret foreign news from a domestic point of view, leading to a rather

constrained view of the outside world.

16
 Share of all stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

Chart 9: Topic structure of foreign news in German TV

Values/Ideologies
Party politics
Crime
Terrorism/Domestic security
Domestic policy
Foreign affairs
International conflicts/War
Economy/Public Policy
Business
Social affairs
Culture
Energy/Traffic/Science
History
Sports
Human interests/Accidents
other topics

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

PSB magazines PSB news Private news

Basis: 120.644 news stories in 7 German TV news programs, 01/2001 08/2005

4.3. Framing News: Business Coverage in Germany

While news selection is the first step in news production, composition and presentation

affect the news flow in a comparable way. The different forms of presenting issues to the

public can be explained by the theory of framing.18 Originating in the analysis of political

discussion, the concept can also be applied to other fields of reporting.

Although the sphere of business is of utmost importance for our societies, business

coverage is of minor importance for TV news. While public TV magazines devote about

12.4% of their newscast to reporting about companies which significantly is less than the

share of sports news , public and private TV news shows set aside 8.4% and 9.6%

respectively of all stories for business reports. Nevertheless, the three types of news

programs differ in marked way in terms of their topic structure (chart 10).

18
Entman, Robert: Projections of Power : Framing News, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy, Chicago
Press 2004.

17
 Share of all reports about companies in 7 German TV news programs, 01/1999 08/2005

Chart 10: Topic structure of business news, German TV

Stock Price
Ratings
Politics/Society
E-Commerce
R&D
Management
History
Image
Globalization
Investments
Clients/Customers
Business Results
Market Position
Personnel/HR
Wages
Products/Services
Production
Business Strategy
Environmental Pol.
Corporate Culture
Innovation
Owners
Other Topics

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

PSB magazines PSB news Private news

Basis: 108,461 reports (at least 5 seconds) about companies, industries, managers, business associations in 7 German TV news

Although all types of programs fail to give a comprehensive picture of business

activities, they stress different aspects. While the news magazines display a focus on the

stock market, private TV news sticks to its maxim of news to use.19 Coverage of

products accounts for nearly 1/3 of all reports about companies. Public TV news on the

other hand frame their business reporting in a political context: Regulation and litigation

issues as well as the social impact of business activities are the second most important

issue in ARD Tagesschau and ZDF heute.

Framing of business has undergone notable changes in the last years. While the

differences in the overall program structure have been rather slight, the boom and bust of

the stock markets at the beginning of the decade is well reflected in the visibility of reports

focusing on the performance of companies shares in the public TV news magazines (chart

11). While the euphoria for the new economy drove reporting about share prices quickly

19
RTL-Television.de: RTL News-Infotainment & TV-Magazine http://www.rtl-television.de/3222.html

18
to an unprecedented high, with more than of all reports focusing on the stock market, the

decline of the bourses was followed with a marked lag.

Share of all reports about companies in 7 German TV news programs, 01/1999 08/2005

Chart 11: Share of news stories referring to the share price

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

PSB magazines PSB news Private news

Basis: 108,461 reports (at least 5 seconds) about companies, industries, managers, business associations in 7 German TV news

Private and public TV news on the other hand did not address share prices in a

meaningful way at all. While the news magazines introduced reporting about the winners

and losers of the day, continuing with this routine in times of decreasing public interest

into the stock market, the TV news shows did not develop regular business reporting at all.

Under such circumstances the great marketing events, like the motor shows and industrial

fairs receive high awareness, driving product coverage even in public TV news to a

significant share (chart 12). In this field, private TV has aspired to extend its lead over the

public competition. Whereas the share of product coverage has not exceeded 20% in any

year for public TV news, private news boosted its share of product-related reports from

about 28% in 1999 to more than 35% in 2005. On the other hand, unusual events, like

accidents, scandals and court cases account for a notable share of business coverage in the

main evening news (chart 13), subordinating economic criteria to the rule of news values.

19
 Share of all reports about companies in 7 German TV news programs, 01/1999 08/2005

Chart 12: Share of news stories referring to products

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

PSB magazines PSB news Private news

Basis: 108,461 reports (at least 5 seconds) about companies, industries, managers, business associations in 7 German TV news

The growing gap between private and public TV news raises doubts about the role of

competition in this development. In so far the PSB did not strengthen their product focus,

other reasons can be taken into account, for instance aspects of marketing on the side of the

private programs. The intensified debate about product placement might give some clue to

this interpretation.20

In respect of business news focusing on scandals and accidents, differences between

public and private TV news shows have declined since 1999. The influence of routine

processes on news selection in the field of business reporting, in contrast to a news

structure based on the logic of economy, is evident in the constantly high share of

scandal news. This impression is corroborated by the exceedingly critical tone of

business reporting in all three types of media outlets analyzed (chart 14).

20
In July 2007, the public broadcaster MDR, an affiliate of ARD, dismissed an editor for his involvement into a
product placement scandal; MDR.de: Wilfried Mohren fristlos entlassen,
http://www.mdr.de/presse/unternehmen/2058401.html

20
 Share of all reports about companies in 7 German TV news programs, 01/1999 08/2005

Chart 13: Share of news stories referring image/scandals

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

PSB magazines PSB news Private news

Basis: 108,461 reports (at least 5 seconds) about companies, industries, managers, business associations in 7 German TV news

In private and public TV news as well as in the news magazines, the share of negative

reports has approximated 1/3 over the last 6 years. On the other hand, positive reports have

only made up 22.1% at the most.

Share of all reports about companies in 7 German TV news programs, 01/1999 08/2005

Chart 14: Rating of companies in German TV news

Public TV: News Magazines Public TV: News Shows Private TV: News Shows

14,5%
22,1% 22,1%
33,5% 34,2% 32,4%

51,3%
44,4% 45,5%

negative no clear rating positive

Basis: 108,461 reports (at least 5 seconds) about companies, industries, managers, business associations in 7 German TV news

21
 Despite marked differences in the topic structure, a critical attitude has thus been the

hallmark of business coverage in TV news. The aggregate view masks some notable

differences between public and private TV programs (chart 15).

Average rating (-1/+1) of companies in 7 German TV news programs, 01/1999 08/2005

Chart 15: Rating of companies in German TV news

0,00

-0,05

-0,10

-0,15

-0,20

-0,25

-0,30
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

PSB magazines PSB news Private news

Basis: 108,461 reports (at least 5 seconds) about companies, industries, managers, business associations in 7 German TV news

While public TV on one hand followed the downturn of the markets in 2002 in more

pronounced way, reporting has been less negative in the public TV magazines since 2003.

Summing up, the framing of business reports provides further evidence to the assumption,

that content competition between public and private TV news is based on a differentiated

approach, focusing on different publics.

4.4. Topic Structures in International Comparison

The analysis of German TV news over times has shown the impact of several external

factors, that affect both and public and private news programs. In an international

comparison, the influence of national and cultural factors on news selection and framing

can be examined in a wider perspective. International TV news differ from another in

much stronger ways than national programs (chart 16).

22
 Share of all stories in 32 international TV news programs, 01/ 08/2006

Chart 16: Infotainment vs. politics

35%

US networks
30%
UK public

25% German public SA public UK private

Arab public Swiss (public)

German private
20%
Politics

Arab private

SA private
15%

10%

5%

0%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Infotainment

Basis: 150,944 news stories in 32 international TV news programs, 01 08/2006

For this comparison the relative positions the public and private TV programs from six

countries or regions have been plotted along the lines of the three dimensions developed in

chapter 4.1. (cf. page 11). The results of this comparison are restricted in their

generalizability by the absence of public TV news from the US and of private news from

Switzerland. Nevertheless four groups of news shows can be traced in the first plot,

comparing the relative weight of infotainment and politics in the international

perspective. While private news in the UK, in Germany and South Africa display a much

higher share of entertainment than their public counterparts, this does not hold true for

the private U.S. network news.21 Private TV news differs much stronger from another in

terms of politics than public news. The share of politics coverage was higher for

British news both in the private and the public programs which is probably due to the

intensifying crisis of the government of Tony Blair.

21
One reason for this observation is the transfer of sports news into a separate section, separated from the
general newscast in U.S. programs.

23
 Arab satellite TV occupies a totally different place in regard both of elements of

infotainment as of politics. Both dimensions play a much lower role in their news

structure, with only South African E-TV news being even less politicized. But more

important: Arab private and public programs differ only slightly from another in both

dimensions. While this indicates that all of them target the same audience, public and

private programs in Europe seem to cater for different preferences.

Share of all stories in 32 international TV news programs, 01/ 08/2006

Chart 17: Infotainment vs. war/terrorism

50%

45%
Arab private
40%

Arab public
35%

30%
War/Terrorism

US networks

25%
UK public

20%
German public UK private

15%

German private
10% Swiss (public)

SA private
5%
SA public
0%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Infotainment

Basis: 150,944 news stories in 32 international TV news programs, 01 08/2006

Arab TV is focused on the regional conflicts: Reporting about war and terrorism

accounts for about 40% of all reports. This is notably higher than reporting in the U.S. or

the UK, although both of these countries are involved strongly in the ongoing conflicts in

Iraq and Afghanistan. On the other South African public and private programs show very

little interest in these issues, while the German and Swiss programs take the middle road.

In all respects, private and public TV in various countries, which are affected rather

differently by the international conflicts dominating foreign news, display quite marked

differences in their program structure (chart 18) with the exception of Arab satellite TV.

24
 Share of all stories in 32 international TV news programs, 01/ 08/2006

Chart 18: War/terrorism vs. politics

45%
Arab private
40%

Arab public
35%

30%
US networks

25%
Politics

UK public

20% German public

UK private
15%
Swiss (public)

10% German private

SA private
5% SA public

0%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
War/Terrorism

Basis: 150,944 news stories in 32 international TV news programs, 01 08/2006

Summing up the evidence from the international comparison, there is some evidence

that public and private TV stations in Germany, the UK and Switzerland are not competing

for the same audiences in terms of news content. While public TV emphasizes the political

dimension, framing events from political perspective, private news provides a continuous

flow of infotainment. Overall convergence of programs has not accelerated in Germany

during the last five years, although sports news plays a comparable role in public and

private programs.

5. Discussion

Contrary to expectations formed by the statements of the broadcasters, the results of this

analysis suggest, that content competition is not very acute for the last years. External factors,

like natural events or the development of the stock markets at some times exert a stronger

influence on news structures than the ownership of the media outlet. With the exception of

Arab satellite TV, public and private news programs occupy different locations in the topic

space.

25
 While different perspectives, for instance in business coverage, demonstrate that TV

stations have some scope to differentiate their program, the similarity of tone shows, that

classic awareness rules and news values have a strong impact on news selection in TV

media.

The overall explanative power of this analysis is to some extent limited by the absence of

either public or private news from some countries and the shorter timeframe for the

international comparison. For Germany, comparing public and private news for shorter

intervals, probably months or even weeks, might show stronger interaction between the

competitors and thus yield a stronger indication of competition in terms of news content.

While the results of this analysis suggest, that public and private programs for the time

being do not compete head-to-head in their news programs, the long-time perspective is

problematic. With demographic change and the evolution of new media, the viewer potential

for public TV news will continue to shrink further endangering the financial potential of

public broadcasters and therefore eventually the program quality.

Three aspects can be discussed in this context: Firstly, the competitive rhetoric of public

broadcasters is primarily indicative of the perceived threats from new media and increasing

financial constraints. Although private news is no threat to public news in terms of quality of

content, this does not imply that public TV news is of high quality per se. Much to the

contrary, the dominance of the party-political perspective complicates the information about

policy issues in a marked way. In the same way, as the game frame in political coverage

distorts reporting about election campaigns,22 preoccupation with party politics obstructs

22
Patterson, Thomas E.: Out of Order, New York 1993

26
reporting about relevant issues. Quality of news reporting should be measured with regard to

general criteria and not with reference to a perceived competitor.

Although the evolution of new media has accelerated in the last years, giving prominence

to weblogs, podcasts and other channels, that undermine the concept of classical mass media,

this has not yet led to notable changes in the topic structure of the main evening news. While

broadcasters embrace new channels as outlets for their editorial content, the reverse flow from

web based media into TV broadcast has not yet materialized.

Thirdly the long-time comparison for Germany suggests that on one hand public

broadcasters remain under some pressure to adapt their news programs to the accelerating

trend for infotainment, engendered by their private competitors, in order to retain their

audience share against the background of changing demographics and patterns of media use.

On the other hand the growing share of tabloid style news is to a certain extent limited by

the traditional influence of the leading political parties in Germany, maintaining a greater

awareness of party political news in public TV news. Nevertheless, the trend towards

sensational news is especially severe in respect to foreign coverage, vastly reducing the

amount of background information from abroad. One could argue that the massive flow of

footage from the ongoing carnage in Iraq and Palestine is primarily infotainment, in so far

discussion about political solutions is virtually absent from this reporting. While domestic

news is controlled by the TV stations, foreign news is determined by the supply of suitable

footage, and thus eventually by the decisions of international TV news agencies and their

business rationale. With regard of the restricted personal experience of the public of foreign

countries, this lack of competition in foreign news coverage, might be the most distressing

result of this analysis.

27
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28
RTL-Television.de: RTL News-Infotainment & TV-Magazine http://www.rtl-
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Marktwirtschaft. Wie Wirtschaft die ffentliche Kommunikation und ffentliche
Kommunikation die Wirtschaft prgt" der Deutschen Gesellschaft fr Publizistik und
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29