The power of the media – and the power over the media

Many critics claim that the news media have robbed the audience and the elected politicians of their power. Such claims are based on spectacular solitary cases in the form of investigative focus journalism. In contrast, critics rarely include everyday routine journalism in their considerations.

The book is based on concrete analyses of both forms of news coverage locally, at Christiansborg (the physical location of the Danish Parliament) and in the EU. The conclusion is that journalists as an institutionalized collective affect the political agendas. Conversely, authoritative sources with a political mandate and expert status effectively influence the journalists. Rather than manipulating media power, it therefore seems more relevant to talk about reciprocal influence with conditioned journalistic independence.

It is also shown that the voters are not uncritical recipients of the mass media’s political messages: Media consumers interpret the news and are highly selective. In contrast, professional spin doctors play a limited role in Danish politics. This fact can be interpreted as a vote of confidence to the news media’s editing exercise of power, which requires a high degree of democratic openness and journalistic credibility in public opinion formation.