Tabloidization of Dutch politics. The influence of newspapers on parliamentary questioning

Transcription

1 Tabloidization of Dutch politics The influence of newspapers on parliamentary questioning Author: Michelle Molema Student number: Assignment: Master s Thesis University: Graduate School of Communication Course: Master s program Communication Science Supervisor: R. Vliegenthart Date: January 27th, 2012

2 2 Abstract Dutch politics have changed over the past years. Some of these changes might be caused by the changing media habbits of political actors, with a more important role for the Telegraaf in Dutch parliamentary questioning in the period from 2000 till Using frames, issues and the aspect of time, the differences between the use of the Volkskrant and the Telegraaf are studied using a content analysis. In total, 217 parliamentary questions based on newspaper articles from the Telegraaf and the Volkskrant and the 217 newspaper articles which are referred to are coded for for frames, issues and time aspects using a codebook. Findings suggest that the use of a frame in a newspaper article predicts the use of the same frame in a parliamentary question. Newspaper articles written in the responsibility frame are most referred to by politicians when they raise parliamentary questions, with an increased usage of frames in general over the past decade. When a parliamentary question is raised based on an article from the Telegraaf, the human-interest frame is significantly more seen in parliament. It is suggested that the increased used of the Telegraaf combined with the increased use of frames have consequences for the political debate.

3 3 Tabloidization of Dutch politics Dutch politics have changed over the past decade. Not only 9/11 and the economic crisis have had their impact, also the rise of populist politics influenced the Dutch political debate. A recent outburst is seen during the General Considerations of 2011, where PVV front man Geert Wilders and Prime Minister Mark Rutte performed a special act, telling each other to act normal. But why? Like their political science colleagues, communication science scholars have been searching for answers, also directed to the role of media. News coverage often serves as inspiration for political debates (Green-Pedersen & Stubager, 2010) and can therefore be of influence on these debates. Currently, almost three out of four parliamentary questions in the Dutch Second Chamber are based on media coverage (Welbers, Van Atteveldt, Schaper & Ruigrok, 2011). But not only the amount of questions based on media is remarkable, also the media sources that politicians use as inspiration for questioning are of interest. There is a growing role in parliament for the newspaper Telegraaf, which is seen as closest to a tabloid newspaper in the Netherlands. Where the Volkskrant used to be the most important source for politicians in the year 2000, nowadays the Telegraaf serves as the most popular inspiration for political actors (Van Aelst & Vliegenthart, 2011). Many scholars are debating about the role of tabloid media, but little scientific research has been done on the actual influence of this transformation in the Dutch political arena. Nevertheless, people confronted with these findings have a normative reaction to it. And precisely because of these normative responses, this study tries to examine whether or not using a certain newspaper as a source matters for the content of the political debate. Therefore, the leading research question of this study is: How are newspaper articles from the Telegraaf and the Volkskrant used in parliamentary questioning in the Netherlands between 2000 and 2009? Different newspapers are known for having different ways of reporting on news, for example in their selection of issues and the way of framing that issue. Framing and issue selection are of influence on the

4 4 people confronted with it. Studies have for example pointed to a relation between media and politics (Van Aelst & Vliegenthart, 2011; Vliegenthart & Roggeband, 2007; Walgrave & Van Aelst, 2006), but most of these studies examine the agenda-building relationship between media and politics. No attention has been paid to the question whether the type media that is used by politicians is of influence on parliamentary questioning. The present study aims to make a contribution to the literature in filling the existing gap. In this thesis, the next section is used to build a theoretical foundation for the research questions and hypotheses. Next is an explanation of the used methodology and measures. After the method the results will be presented. In the final part, the conclusions will be discussed in light of earlier studies and together with suggestions for future research. Theory In the following chapter, the theoretical foundation of the thesis is presented. It starts with an outline of the Dutch case, where media and politics will be brought together. Next are framing, issues and time, which all lead to separate research questions and hypotheses. The Dutch case The Dutch political system is characterized by the existence of multiple parties and coalition governments (Andeweg & Irwin, 2009). People are represented by elected MPs in the Second Chamber and indirectly by MPs in the First Chamber. Parliamentary questions form an important part of the political job. Parliamentary questions have different roles in current Western democracies (Vliegenthart & Walgrave, 2011). The first role is being the main tool for MPs in controlling the government. Raising parliamentary questions provides the opportunity to create a confrontation between government and the members of the Second Chamber. Second, the questions reveal the political agenda of a political party. The third role

5 5 of parliamentary questioning is that parties try to influence the political policy making process. It is argued that the use of questioning is rather inconsequential and that it therefore mainly needs to be seen as a symbolic act, which influence is rather limited (Vliegenthart & Walgrave, 2011). However, also symbolic political acts can be seen as important ways of parties to present themselves and to find support for their ideas. Therefore, in the present study all three functions of parliamentary questioning are seen as important. In a recent study of the relationship between political actors and media in the Netherlands, Welbers and colleagues (2011) found that in the period of 2006 until 2011 the Socialist Party (SP) is responsible for most of the parliamentary questions. The Labor Party (PvdA) and Geert Wilders Freedom Party (PVV) are second and third when it comes to the number of parliamentary questions they raise (Welbers et al., 2011). In this study, issues about safety and public order are most important, followed by healthcare and international affairs. Newspapers are the most important source for parliamentary questions; 33.8% of the questions referred to a newspaper. The PVV and the Animal Party (PvdD) are the parties that use media most for inspiration. This study focuses on the questions based on the Telegraaf and the Volkskrant. The Telegraaf is seen as closest to a tabloid newspaper that the Dutch media landscape has to offer. MacLachlan & Golding (2000) characterize tabloids by fewer international news stories, the use of more pictures, less text, more human interest frame and more entertainment news stories and less political or parliamentary news, when compared to quality newspapers. The Volkskrant on the other hand is seen as one of the quality newspapers in the Netherlands. During the past decade a shift has taken place in the media sources that are used by MPs. Where the Volkskrant used to be the most important source, since the rise of Geert Wilders and his party in parliament the Telegraaf is the most important inspiration for parliamentary questions (Van Aelst & Vliegenthart, 2011). Different studies have been done to assess the

6 6 role of media in the process of parliamentary questioning. The overall conclusion is that media matter, but their influence varies considerable across issues. It is also said that media have a larger impact on opposition than on government parties (Vliegenthart & Walgrave, 2011). Therefore, the first hypothesis for this study is: H1: Members of parties in opposition raise more questions referring to media than members of government parties. In general, media in the Netherlands tend to have their own group of readers, based on the political spectrum. Although not everybody likes the idea of newspapers being politically biased, there is evidence that this is the case. Based on a recent study of Welbers and colleagues (2011) the Telegraaf is mostly read and used as inspiration by members of parties at the right of the political spectrum. Parties at the political left mainly use the Volkskrant. Both newspapers are generally known for having readers with a specific background, causing political parties to focus on these groups of potential voters. In the present study this deviation is also expected between parties on the left and parties on the right side of the political spectrum. If politicians indeed read the newspaper that fits best within their political bias, as suggested by Welbers and colleagues (2011), this will also be visible in the parliamentary questions political actors raise. To test this, the following hypotheses are: H2a: Members of parties on the left side of the political spectrum will refer more to the Volkskrant. H2b: Members of parties on the right side of the political spectrum will refer more to the Telegraaf.

7 7 Framing Framing is concerned with the presentation of an issue. A frame is an emphasis in salience of different aspects of a topic (De Vreese, 2005, p.53). Research in the field of framing refers to either frame building in content or to framing effects on public opinion. In this study, both sides are at stake. The interest lays at the use of frames in newspaper articles and their effect on parliamentary questions. However, in this study the effect is not on public opinion, but the effect is the translation of the frames into parliamentary questions. Framing research can either be done by the inductive approach (defining frames along the way) or a deductive approach (defining the frames up front). Since there is already a great amount of literature, this study will work with the deductive approach, using frames that are identified in several studies as being present in news reporting (Brants & Neijens, 1998; Kleinnijenhuis, Oegema & De Ridder, 1995; Neuman, Just & Crigler, 1992): conflict frame, human interest frame, economic consequence frame, morality frame and attribution of responsibility frame (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000). The conflict frame emphasizes a conflict between groups, institutions or individuals. This frame is identified as being the most commonly used frame for different issues in the media (Neuman et al., 1992). Another commonly used frame is the human-interest frame, which is described as adding an emotional angle or human face to the presentation of an issue. A third frame that is often used is the economic consequences frame, which reports on issues in such a way that the economic outcomes are discussed for an individual, a group or organization. The morality frame is the fourth frame, which is mainly used indirectly to point to moral aspects of an issue. Since journalists are to be working with the objectivity norm, direct framing towards moral aspects is not commonly used. However, by letting somebody else read the question or use quotation journalists are able to integrate this frame. The final

8 8 commonly identified frame is the attribution of responsibility frame, in which is pointed to the cause or solution for a problem (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000). In the present study the use of frames is of interest because little scholars have focused on the use of frames in the political arena. Little is known about the relationship between framing in newspaper articles and the translation of these frames to parliamentary questions. However, if certain frames have a higher chance of being picked up by media, this might be of great importance in understanding why political actors pick up some articles and ignore others. Since the Telegraaf is seen as closer to a tabloid newspaper, it is expected that according to the definition of MacLachlan and Golding (2000) the human-interest frame is more seen in the articles from Telegraaf that are referred to. This would be in line with findings of Semetko and Valkenburg (2000), who also found that serious news outlets more often use the attribution of responsibility and conflict frame. Therefore, the following hypotheses and research question are proposed: RQ1: When referring to newspaper articles in parliamentary questions, which frames are addressed by MPs? H3: If a parliamentary question is referring to the Telegraaf, the newspaper article will more likely be written in the human-interest frame compared to the Volkskrant. H4a: If a parliamentary question is referring to the Volkskrant, the newspaper article will more likely be written in the conflict frame compared to the Telegraaf. H4b: If a parliamentary question is referring to the Volkskrant, the newspaper article will more likely be written in the attribution of responsibility frame compared to the Telegraaf. In general, the interest towards framing does not stop after the selection of the news article by the MP. It is also interesting to see whether the frame actually has an effect and translates into the Dutch parliament. Although Vliegenthart and Roggeband (2007) argued that it is unlikely

9 9 that the proposed standard media frames from Semetko and Valkenburg (2000) are to be translated into parliamentary documents, this is not yet studied. Therefore, another research question is posed: RQ2: When an MP is referring to a newspaper article in a parliamentary question, does (s)he use the same frame(s) as presented in the newspaper article? Issues Not only do different newspaper articles use different kinds of frames, also the issues that are addressed might differ. It is suggested in the literature that tabloid news media have lesser attention for international news (MacLachlan & Golding, 2000). It is also suggested that the more tabloid a newspaper, the more attention there is for crime news, whereas quality newspapers pay more attention to foreign news and economic news issues (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000). Therefore, the following research question and hypotheses are stated: RQ3: When referring to newspaper articles in parliamentary questions, which issues are addressed by MPs? H5a: Newspaper articles referred to by MPs from the Volkskrant will more often be about international issues compared to the parliamentary questions referring to articles in the Telegraaf. H5b: Newspaper articles referred to by MPs from the Volkskrant will more often be about economic issues compared to the parliamentary questions referring to articles in the Telegraaf. H6: Newspaper articles referred to by MPs from the Telegraaf will more often be about crime related issues, compared to the parliamentary questions referring to articles in the Volkskrant.

10 10 Time The final variable that is taken into account in the present study is time. The study aims to provide an insight in the changes over the first decade of the new millennium. This decade is specifically interesting, because it introduced Dutch society with a new way of politics. In the fall of 2001, Pim Fortuyn entered the political arena and had a great influence on the political debate afterwards (Andeweg & Irwin, 2009; Boomgaarden & Vliegenthart, 2007). Different political parties followed the movement towards a more populist way of politics, both on the right and the left side of the political spectrum. This could be seen as an explanation for the increased importance of the Telegraaf in the Dutch parliament. Therefore the following research questions are proposed: RQ 4: Did the use of frames in newspaper articles from the Telegraaf and the Volkskrant referred to in parliament change between 2000 and 2009? RQ 5: Did the use of frames in parliamentary questions referring to the Telegraaf and the Volkskrant change between 2000 and 2009? RQ 6: Is there a linear trend between 2000 and 2009 in the development of the use of frames in parliamentary questioning, when the question is referring to the Volkskrant or the Telegraaf? In the next section of this study the method with which the proposed research questions and hypotheses are to be answered are described and explained. Method In order to answer the proposed research questions, the present study uses a quantitative content analysis. The next chapter describes more detailed information on the sampling, procedure, measurements and analyses.

11 11 Sample The interest of the study lies in the time period between 2000 and In three of these years, national elections for the Second Chamber were held (May 2002, January 2003 and November 2006). Because outcomes of the study are expected to differ in between election times and times of routine politics (Walgrave & Van Aelst, 2006; Vliegenthart & Walgrave, 2011), this is taken into account in selecting the data in all ten years by not selecting data in these months. Therefore all parliamentary questions referring directly to the Volkskrant or the Telegraaf and submitted in February, March, September and October of all ten years are selected (n Volkskrant = 547, n Telegraaf = 582). Due to time issues, within this sample a random sample of parliamentary questions and the articles that are referred to are selected for analysis (N = 225). All parliamentary questions are available through the website Officiële bekendmakingen 1 ( Official announcements ). The questions were selected through the website on the criteria: questions without answers, only finished pieces, searching the full text for either Telegraaf or Volkskrant, only Second Chamber and selected by date. After the selection of the parliamentary questions, the articles referred to in the questions are downloaded through the digital archive of LexisNexis 2. Some parliamentary questions were referring to articles that were not available through LexisNexis. These questions are not taken into account in the final analysis. In the end, 217 parliamentary questions with corresponding newspaper articles are coded and analyzed. Procedure Both newspaper articles and parliamentary questions are coded using a codebook, which are attached in appendix I (newspaper article) and appendix II (parliamentary questions). The reliability of both codebooks is controlled using Cohen s kappa. The codebook for newspaper academic.lexisnexis.nl/uva

12 12 articles was reliable (K =.86). The coding of parliamentary questions is a bit less reliable because a coding scheme is used that is originally constructed for coding of newspaper articles. However, the reliability is high enough (K =.71). Coding is done for issue, time and frame and political characteristics as described below. Issues are coded accordingly to the issues that can be selected on the website of the government. When searching the database, the user has the opportunity to select issues. These are used to classify the issues in the present study. The different issues are; administration, culture & recreation, economy, finance, accommodation, international, agriculture, migration & integration, nature & environment, education & science, public order & safety, law, space & infrastructure, social security, traffic, labor, care & healthcare. First and secondary issue of each newspaper article and each parliamentary question are coded, with coding for a secondary issue being optional. Since the translation of issues is not of interest in the present study, the coding for issues for both newspaper articles and parliamentary questions is done at the same time. Frames are coded using the five frames that were identified by Semetko and Valkenburg (2000): attribution of responsibility frame, conflict frame, human-interest frame, economic consequences frame and the morality frame. The original codebook of the scholars existed of twenty items measuring the five frames. However, in this study, the final item of the original codebook from the human-interest frame is deleted, while it refers to images and photos. The database LexisNexis does not provide pictures and for parliamentary questions this item is irrelevant. The 19 questions that remain explore if the articles are framed and answer yes or no, resulting in final scores between 0.00 (the frame is not present in the article) to 1.00 (the frame is fully present in the article). A high score on the attribution of responsibility scale

13 13 says that the story suggests that the government has the ability to alleviate or causes an issue. A high score on the conflict scale indicates that the story reflects disagreement between parties in several ways. A high score on the human-interest scale means that there is an emphasis on a human face to a problem. A high score on the economic consequences scale indicates that the story talks about financial gains and losses or expenses involved. A high score on the morality scale means that the story makes references to morality, like a God or other religious tenets, or describes explicitly how to life. Choosing this way of coding assures that the measurements are more precise and lowering the risk that correlations between the variables turn out lower. By using factor analysis final scales are developed which are controlled for reliability by using Cronbach s alpha. For a detailed list of the items, see the codebooks in appendix I and II. Additionally for each article and each parliamentary question, a dummy variable is created if the article or questions scores more than null on a frame. Articles and questions can have more than one frame. Time is coded as the date that the newspaper published the article and the parliamentary question was raised in parliament. Additionally, the year is separately coded for each newspaper article and each parliamentary question. For every newspaper article, the medium is coded (1 = Volkskrant, 0 = Telegraaf). The parliamentary questions are coded for the political party the actor is from, with a dummy variable for each of the political parties active in the time period. Also coded is the position of the party at that moment, either being in government (1) or opposition (0) and on which side of the political spectrum the party is; left (1) or right (0).

14 14 Measurements The framing measures that are used for both the newspaper articles and the parliamentary questions are described below. Newspapers are measured using the five frames. For all five frames a principal factor analysis is conducted. For the conflict frame, the analysis is done with the four items measuring the conflict frame. The scale has a reliability of α =.61. The factor analysis shows one factor with an eigenvalue of 1.86 and explains 46.5% of the variance. Another principal factor analysis is conducted with the three items measuring the morality frame. The scale has a reliability of α =.41. The factor analysis shows one factor with an eigenvalue of 1.45 and explains 48.24% of the variance between the items. The scale for the economic frame has a reliability of α =.63. The analysis shows one factor with an eigenvalue of 1.71 that explains 57.13% of the variance between the items. The responsibility frame is measured with five items. These items form a scale with a reliability of α =.44. This can be improved to α =.59 by leaving out the fourth question of this frame, which states that an individual is responsible for the issue. This item is not further taken into account for analysis. The factor analysis shows that there is one factor with an eigenvalue of 1,81, which explains 45.35% of the variance. The human-interest frame is measured using four items, forming a scale with a reliability of α =.78. One factor with an eigenvalue of 2.48 explains 62.01% of the variance. For all five frames variables are created using the mean scores of the items. The variables have values between null (the frame is not present) till one (the frame is fully present). Parliamentary questions are measured using the five frames. The five frames are tested for reliability and components, using principal factor analysis. The four items measuring the conflict frame have a reliability of α = The factor analysis using the four items shows

15 15 one factor with an eigenvalue over one. One factor has an eigenvalue of 1.57, explaining 39.24% of the variance. The morality frame is measured with three items. The three items form a very unreliable scale of α =.14. The second item is never found in the parliamentary questions and was therefore removed in order to calculate the reliability. Because both items measure different aspects of morality, the poor reliability was expected and the variables are used together as a scale for analysis after all. Three items measure the economic frame. The items form a scale with a reliability of α =.56. A factor analysis shows that the items share one factor with an eigenvalue of 1.60 and explaining 53.47% of the variance between the items. The responsibility frame is measured using five items. Together they form a scale with a reliability of α =.50. This can be improved by deleting the fourth item and this is consistent with the findings in the coding for newspapers, improving the reliability to α =.54. Therefore, the fourth item is not further taken into account for analyses. The factor analysis using the four items that remain shows that there is one factor with an eigenvalue of 1.68 that explains 41.99% of the variance. The human-interest frame is measured with four items that form a scale with a reliability of α =.48. The factor analysis shows that there are two components with an eigenvalue over 1. Looking at the varimax rotated solution there are two components that can be found within the human interest frame; one that deals with the effect of the issue on the personal lives of people (whether individuals are affected and go into the personal lives of actors) and one that deals with the way the text is built (use of certain words and providing a human example of an issue). However, because the literature suggests that the items do measure the human-interest frame, the variables are used together to create the scale. For all frames a variable is created using the mean score on the items, values between null (the frame is not present) till one (the frame is fully present).

16 16 Analyses To analyze whether political parties prefer certain issues when referring to newspaper articles when raising parliamentary questions, crosstab analyses are conducted with issues addressed and political party, using Goodman and Kruskal s tau. Goodman and Kruskal s tau is also used to predict which party prefers which newspapers. To analyze if political parties prefer certain frames a one-way Anova is conducted, measuring the mean scores of political parties on each frame. To test if members of parties in opposition raise more questions referring to media than members of parties in government, an independent t-test is conducted. To see if there are differences between parties at the left and right side of the political spectrum, crosstab analyses are conducted. Testing if frames and medium type are related is done with regression analyses, with a dummy variable of the source as the independent variable and the frames in newspapers as the dependent variable. To test if certain frames are more likely to be referred to in a parliamentary question, crosstab analyses are used. Testing whether frames are taken over by MPs when they refer to certain newspaper articles is done using a regression analysis for each frame, using the visibility of the frame in a newspaper article as the independent variable and the visibility of the frame in the parliamentary question as the dependent variable. To test if certain issues are more common in either the Volkskrant or the Telegraaf, crosstab analyses are used. To test how time influences framing in newspaper articles and in parliamentary questions, regression analyses are conducted. Finally, to test the mediation effect of newspaper articles on the effect of time on the frames in parliamentary questions, a bootstrapping analysis is conducted. In order to do so a macro of Preacher and Hayes (2004) is used. In the next chapter the results of the analyses above are presented. First some general results will be presented and after that the results between political parties in the use of frames and in issues are given. The final bit of results deal with questions regarding time.

17 17 Results In total, 217 parliamentary questions and 217 newspaper articles are analyzed. Most of the parliamentary questions are referring to newspaper articles from the Volkskrant (n = 115). The other questions refer to the Telegraaf (n = 102). The issue that was addressed most is public order and safety (n = 47), of which 16 articles appeared in the Volkskrant and 31 in the Telegraaf. International affairs (n = 28) and care and healthcare (n = 24) issues are the second and third most important issues that are addressed. For the complete overview of the issues addressed in each newspaper, please see Table 1 in appendix III. The newspaper articles are mostly written in the responsibility frame (n = 152), followed by the conflict frame (n = 134) and the human-interest frame (n = 90). The economic frame (n = 81) and the morality frame (n = 41) are the least present in the newspaper articles. Most of the parliamentary questions are raised by members of the Labor Party PvdA (n = 45). Second is the Liberal Party VVD (n = 35) and third the Christian Democrats CDA (n = 31). The SGP, the Orthodox Christian Party, is not represented in the sample. The party that is presently known for the amount of parliamentary questions, the Party for the Animals (PvdD) was partly not in parliament yet, and less active in the time period the sample was taken (n = 1). Presented in Table 2 in appendix III is an overview of the number of parliamentary questions per political party, also specified for newspaper. When looking at the political parties individually, there are differences between which medium types they prefer. In the present study, the PvdA is the party raising the most parliamentary questions. Of the in total 45 raised parliamentary questions by this party, 29 are based on the Volkskrant, leaving 16 based on the Telegraaf. The VVD based 22 questions on the Telegraaf, opposed to 13 on the Volkskrant. CDA based 19 questions on the Telegraaf and 12 on the Volkskrant. Using Goodman and Kruskal s tau, 25.6% of the use of either Volkskrant or Telegraaf can be predicted based on the political party a political actor is from.

18 18 Political differences The presentation of the results starts with a comparison between political parties. First differences between parties and their selection of issues are presented (RQ3). A crosstab analysis is conducted with political party on the one side and the issue addressed on the other side. In total, 301 references to issues were coded. Table 3 in appendix III shows that most of the newspaper articles referred to by politicians deal with issues of public order and safety. Almost 16% of the questions deal with this issue. International affairs and healthcare are with 11.6% and 10.6% the second and third most addressed issues. Agriculture is with 0.66% the least addressed issue, which is slightly less than the issue of space and infrastructure with 1.6%. The issue of public order and safety is mostly addressed by CDA and PVV, with both 16%. The Socialists from the SP (14%) and the Labor Party PvdA (12%) follow. Of the articles that deal with international affairs, SP and the VVD are the ones addressing this issue most with almost 17.7%, followed by PvdA and CDA with both 14.7%. For care and healthcare the PvdA is the most important party with 28% of the share. The SP is the second party on this issue with 18.8%. However, using Goodman and Kruskal s tau, there cannot be made a significant prediction of the issues political parties address (Goodman and Kruskal s tau = 0.05, ns). Looking at issues that strongly related to certain parties the first attention is given to the issue of nature and environment. Of all questions, 3.7% deal with this issue, and one would expect that members of parties that strongly identify with the issue mainly raise these questions. These are the Party of the Animals (PvdD) and the Green Party GreenLeft. GreenLeft indeed is responsible for a huge amount of the questions in this field with 36.4%. This is 11.8% of the total amount of parliamentary questions from GreenLeft. The PvdD is responsible for 9% of the addressing of the nature and environment issue. Since in the present sample there was only one parliamentary question by this party, this finding is not surprising.

19 19 The PvdA is a party that has a history standing up for working class, so one could expect that the issue of labor in the present study is closely related to their ideology. In the present sample, they are indeed the most important issue owner with 38.5%. However, this is only 8.1% of the total amount of their parliamentary questions. The Christian Democrats raise 23.1% of the questions about labor issues. This is 7.1% of their total amount of questions. The labor issue seems to be an issue that is not very much owned by a certain political party. All parties seem to have some interest in this issue. Geert Wilders PVV is known for anti-islam politics and presents itself mostly on themes that regard immigration and integration. In the present sample however, the PVV only accounts for 13% of migration and integration issues. This is however one third of the total amount of questions from the PVV (33.3%), which shows that the issues around immigration and integration are an important part of the political agenda of the PVV. Nevertheless, members of the PvdA ask the most questions about this theme. This is 26.1% of the questions surrounding this issue. This is 9.7% of their total amount of parliamentary questions. Second is the Liberal VVD with 21.7%. This is 11.1% of their parliamentary questions. For RQ1 the interest goes to the use of frames by political parties. In order to test this, a one way Anova is conducted comparing the mean scores for each frame per political party. The Anova tests show no significant differences. The use of the conflict frame (F = 1.21, df = 14, 202, ns) the morality frame (F = 0.59, df = 14, 202, ns), the economic frame (F = 0.95, df = 14, 202, ns), the attribution of responsibility frame (F = 1.22, df = 14, 202, ns) and the human-interest frame (F = 1.55, df = 14, 202, ns) cannot be explained based on political bias. Said differently; there is no statistical evidence that certain parties choose to refer to newspaper articles written in a certain frame. A t-test analysis shows that members of parties in opposition raise significantly more questions referring to Volkskrant and Telegraaf than members of parties in government (t =

20 , df = 212, p <.001). In the present sample, members of parties in government raised 73 questions, while members of parties in opposition raised 140 questions. Therefore hypothesis 1 is accepted. There is no evidence that the opposition-government distinction is of any influence on which newspaper the politicians used (phi = -.03, ns). Therefore, it cannot be said that one newspaper or the other is more favorite amongst those in opposition or those in government. When the political position within the left-right dimension is tested as a predictor for the use of either Volkskrant or Telegraaf a significant result is found (phi =.44, p <.001). The newspaper articles from the Volkskrant are for 73.2% addressed by politicians from the left side of the political spectrum. For the Telegraaf it is almost exactly the opposite; politicians from the right side of the political spectrum are accountable for 70.7% of the referencing to the Telegraaf. Therefore, hypotheses 2a and 2b are both accepted. Frames The use of frames is an important aspect of the present study. First of all it is examined whether or not the theoretical difference between quality newspapers (the use of conflict frame and the attribution of responsibility frame) and tabloid newspapers (more use of the human-interest frame) is indeed present in the present study. A regression model predicting the presence of the human-interest frame in newspaper articles from the Telegraaf significantly predicts that if the source is the Telegraaf, the chances are higher that the humaninterest frame is used (F = 17.12, df = 1, 215, p <.001). The model is therefore useful and explains 7.4% of the variance (R 2 = 0.074). The source of the newspaper article, the Telegraaf, is a significant predictor of the use of the human-interest frame (b =.17, t = 4.14, p <.001). Chances are higher if an article is published in the Telegraaf that the human-interest frame is used. Hypothesis 3 is therefore accepted.

21 21 To test whether or not the articles referred to from the Volkskrant are indeed using the conflict frame and the attribution of responsibility frame more, two regression analyses are conducted. For the conflict frame, a significant model is found (F = 7.66, df = 1, 215, p <.01). The model explains 3.4% of the variance (R 2 = 0.034). However, the relation is negative (b = -.11, t = 2.77, p <.05). It seems as if the chance that a newspaper article written in the Volkskrant has less chance of being written in the conflict frame. Therefore, hypothesis 4a needs to be rejected. Looking at the absolute numbers from this study presented in Table 3, indeed the Telegraaf has with 53.7% more articles referencing to the conflict frame than the Volkskrant (46.3%). For the attribution of responsibility frame there is no significant model found (F = 2.50, df = 1, 215, ns). Therefore it cannot be stated that the attribution of responsibility frame is more likely to be addressed to in parliamentary questions referring to the Volkskrant. Hypothesis 4b is rejected. The frames that are used in newspaper articles (which are referred to in parliamentary questions) also differ. Table 4 in appendix III shows the attribution of responsibility frame is mostly seen in the newspaper articles. Of the total amount of references 30.5% is from the attribution of responsibility frame, followed by the conflict frame (26.9%). To test the influence of the newspaper articles on the actual parliamentary question, a comparison is made between the use of frames in newspaper articles and the use of frames in parliamentary questions. In the parliamentary questions, the attribution of responsibility frame is most found (n = 185). In 185 of the 217 parliamentary questions, one of the items measuring the responsibility frame was found. The morality frame is second most seen (n = 67), followed by the human-interest frame (n = 58), the economic frame (n = 48) and the least found is the conflict frame (n = 38). See Table 5 in appendix III for the overview. Corresponding with the finding in the newspaper articles, the responsibility frame seems to be the most important frame. Also the human-interest frame and the economic frame

22 22 are ranked the same if the amount of references is compared. However, the morality frame and the conflict frame have very different outcomes looking at the amount of articles and parliamentary questions in which they are found. Where the conflict frame is the second most found in newspaper articles, it is the least found in parliamentary questions. With the morality frame it is precisely the other way around; in the parliamentary questions there are a lot of references to morality, where as in the newspaper articles these references are the least seen. In order to test whether or not frames are taken over by MPs when they raise parliamentary questions when they refer to either the Telegraaf or the Volkskrant (RQ2), regression analyses are conducted. In the regression analyses is tested whether the use of a frame in a newspaper article predicts the use of the same frame in a parliamentary question. For four of the five frames, there is a significant result, meaning that the use of frames in newspaper articles predicts the use of the same frame in parliamentary questions. The appearance of the conflict frame is a parliamentary question is the only frame that cannot be predicted based on the appearance of the conflict frame in a newspaper article (F = 2.71, df = 1, 215, ns). The use of the morality frame in a newspaper articles significantly predicts the use of the morality frame in a parliamentary question (F = 4.92, df = 1, 215, p <.05). The model predicts 2.2% of the variance (R 2 =.022). There is a positive relation; more use of the morality frame in a newspaper article partly predicts more use of the morality frame in parliamentary questions (b =.15, t = 2.22, p <.05). The use of the economic frame in a newspaper articles turns out to be quite a strong predictor for the use of the economic frame in a parliamentary question (F = 49.25, df = 1, 215, p <.001). The model explains 18.6% of the variance (R 2 =.186), and shows a positive relation (b =.31, t = 7.02, p <.001). The use of the responsibility frame in parliamentary questions can also be predicted by the appearance of the frame in newspaper articles (F = 27.00, df = 1, 215, p <.001). The model explains 11.2% of the variance (R 2 =.112) and shows a positive relation. The more the responsibility frame

23 23 appears in newspapers, the more it will appear in parliamentary questions (b =.32, t = 5.20, p <.001). Use of the human-interest frame predicts the use of the human-interest frame in newspaper articles (F = 60.63, df = 1, 215, p <.001). The model for the human-interest frame explains 22% of the variance (R 2 =.220). Again a positive relation is found; the more the human-interest frame is used in newspaper articles, the more the human-interest frame is used in parliamentary questioning (b =.27, t = 7.79, p <.001). The use of the frames in newspaper articles does partly predict the use of the same frames in parliamentary questioning. Issues There are significant associations between the issue that is addressed and the medium type that is referred to by the politicians. If the source is the Volkskrant, the article will more often deal with an international issue (phi =.16, p <.05). In the present sample, 25 articles from the Volkskrant are about international affairs, opposed to 10 articles from the Telegraaf. Hypothesis 5a is therefore accepted. For economic issues this relation is not found (phi =.16, ns). For financial issues there is a significant negative relationship (phi = -.01, p <.05). In the present sample, more articles from the Telegraaf refer to financial issues (six articles from the Telegraaf, only one article from the Volkskrant). Therefore, hypothesis 5b is rejected. International news is indeed more addressed when the source is the Volkskrant, but financial or economic matters are not more likely to be addressed in parliament when the Volkskrant is used as a source. For the Telegraaf it was hypothesized that, because of the tabloid character of the newspaper, more articles would deal with issues on crime. Within the present study there is a significant association between newspaper articles from the Telegraaf and the issue public order and safety (phi =.20, p <.05). 30.4% of the articles in the Telegraaf refer to this issue opposed to 13.9% in the Volkskrant articles. Therefore, hypothesis 6 is accepted.

24 24 Time Time concerns the time period that is of interest in the present study; from the year 2000 till the year In order to study if the use of frames in newspaper articles in the Telegraaf and the Volkskrant referred to in parliamentary questions changed during this period (RQ4), regression analyses are conducted with the year as the predictor for the use of frames in newspaper articles. The conflict frame (F = 0.94, df = 1, 215, ns) the economic frame (F = 2.13, df = 1, 215, ns) and the attribution of responsibility frame (F = 2.41, df = 1, 215, ns) can not significantly be predicted based on the year the newspaper article was written. The morality frame can significantly be predicted based on the year the article is written (F = 4.65, df = 1, 215, p <.05). The model explains only 2.1% over the variance (R 2 =.021). The later the article is written, the more the morality frame is used, although the effect is small (b = 0.01, t = 2.16, p <.05). The human-interest frame can also significantly be predicted based on the year of publication (F = 6.84, df = 1, 22, p <.05). The model explains 3.1% of the variance (R 2 =.031). The later the article is written, the more the human-interest frame is used (b = 0.02, t = 2.62, p <.05). This is a small positive effect. To test whether the use of frames in parliamentary questioning changed during this period (RQ5), again regression analyses are conducted, with year as the independent variable and the use of frames in parliamentary questioning as the dependent variable. The appearance of all frames can be significantly predicted by the year in which the article that the question is referring to is written. The model for the conflict frame is significant and predicts 5.3% of the variance (F = 12.00, df = 1, 215, p <.01, R 2 =.053). The later the article is published, the more the conflict frame is appearing in the parliamentary questions (b = 0.02, t = 3.47, p <.01). The model for the morality frame explains 7.2% of the variance (F = 16.56, df = 1, 215, p <.001, R 2 =.072). The later the article is published, the more reference there is to moral issues in the parliamentary question (b = 0.02, t = 4.07, p <.001). The model for the

25 25 economic frame explains 3.6% of the variance (F = 8.00, df = 1, 215, p <.01, R 2 =.036). The later the article, the more the economic frame is used in parliamentary questions (b = 0.02, t = 2.83, p <.01). The model for the attribution of responsibility frame explains 3.4% of the variance (F = 7.54, df = 1, 215, p <.01, R 2 =.034). The later the year, the more the attribution of responsibility frame is used (b = 0.02, t = 2.75, p <.01). Finally the human-interest frame model is predicting 3.5% of the variance (F = 7.81, df = 1, 215, p <.01, R 2 =.035). The use of the human-interest frame in parliamentary questioning has increased over the years (b = 0.01, t = 2.80, p <.01). For all frames count that although the relationship between the frame and the year is positive, the effects are rather small. To test the mediating effect of the use of frames in newspaper articles on frames in parliamentary questions, bootstrapping is used. Bootstrapping is an estimation strategy and often improves the power of a model, as recommended by Preacher and colleagues (2007). According to these scholars it is the most powerful method to assess significant indirect effects. On the basis of five thousand bootstrap samples, a 95% bias corrected confidence interval was computed for the point estimate of the values for the moderator. If the interval does not include zero, the effect is significant. Newspaper frames in one of the cases did have a mediating effect on the relationship between year and the use of frames in parliamentary questions (RQ6). For an overview of the results please see Table 6 in appendix III. Only in the use of the human-interest frame there seems to be a mediating effect (F = 32.20, df = 2, 214, p <.001). The relationship between year and the use of frames in parliamentary questions was thus mediated by the use of frames in newspaper articles. The model accounted for 23.13% of the variance (R 2 =.231). So, not only does the year have an influence on the increasing amount of the use of frames in parliament, the fact that newspaper articles are written in certain frames is mediating this effect. For the other frames counts that, despite the role of the newspaper articles, there is already an effect of the year on the parliamentary

26 26 questioning. During the past years, the frame use has expended, also without the influence of newspaper articles. In the next section of this thesis, the discussion of the findings is presented in light of earlier research and implications of the results. Also limitations of the present study are discussed and recommendations for future research are made. Discussion In the present study the influence of newspaper types that politicians use on parliamentary questioning in the Netherlands is assessed. This is done comparing issues, frames and the time aspect in parliamentary questions raised based on media and the newspaper articles they are referring to. First of all, differences between political parties are tested on both the issues they raise and the frames the political parties prefer. For both issues and frames, no significant differences were found, indicating that political actors do not seem to favor certain issues or frames when they base their parliamentary question on newspapers. Whereas other scholars did find proof for issue ownership in parliamentary questioning (Vliegenthart & Walgrave, 2011), the present study did not find any statistical evidence for parties choosing a certain issue to present themselves on. This might be because the sample was not stratified and therefore some parties that one would expect to show a clear preference were not very well presented in the sample. The issues around sampling will be presented later as one of the proposed improvements of the present study. It does matter if a party is in government, or in opposition, congruent with findings of Vliegenthart and Walgrave (2011). This is in line with the role of opposition parties in the Second Chamber, where they are expected to control and attack the government on issues they believe the government is not doing well. Being either at the left side or the right side of the political spectrum also matters; political actors from the left tend to prefer the Volkskrant, whereas the politicians from the right refer more to the