Exploring party-issue linkages as an indicator of issue ownership in election news coverage

Abstract

Research on issue ownership has placed political parties at the centre of studies. Recent research argues that this focus should be expanded. First, researchers have found that the salience of different political issues is affected by events exogenous to political parties, such as real-world events and societal trends. Second, researchers have pointed to the news media as an additional arena for issue ownership competition and maintenance, making the concept of party–issue linkages in election coverage an additional topic of study. This article contributes to election research by exploring party–issue linkage as an indicator of issue ownership for both political parties and political leaders in the two most recent national Danish elections. Both elections were affected by societal trends and real-world events. Based on large-scale content analysis and using descriptive statistics, we find a clear shift in media saliences from 2019 to 2022. We also find changes in party–issue linkage for both political parties and specific political leaders, especially regarding the most salient issues of the elections.