Party competition and news coverage of European parliament elections

While the attention paid by the news media to European Parliamentary elections has increased, the chapter asks whether the nature of news coverage has changed. In particular, as coverage has increased (which may be viewed as a good development), have there been unintended consequences resulting in the nature of coverage. The chapter asks whether EP election coverage follows a general secular trend of increasing personalization and focus on strategy rather than policy. The chapter's analysis suggests that the political system can explain variation across time and space in election coverage. If hard-news coverage and substantive policy coverage are beneficial for the political process, then its findings suggest that, in particular, close elections and polarized party systems may have beneficial effects. Where there are pro-EU governments, the outlets in these systems tend to produce more hard news that is beneficial to voters but also increase horse-race news, which may be an unintended consequence.