Media as political actors? Issue focusing and selective emphasis in the German quality press

This article examines media's active role in the political process. By selecting and emphasising certain issues in their editorials media outlets communicate their particular political position to the audience and establish a distinct ideological profile. It is assumed, however, that the impact of editorials on the political system depends on the degree of issue focusing in the media system. Only if different newspapers assign relevance to the same issues the political system is likely to respond. A content analysis of German quality press editorials between 1994 and 1998 is employed in order to assess the ideological distances between papers and investigate the circumstances under which high degrees of focusing nevertheless develop. Results indicate considerable differences among newspapers paired with highly consonant attention for certain polity and politics issues throughout the media system.