Is the populist radical right (still) shaping the news? Media attention, issue ownership and party strategies in Switzerland

Abstract

Populist radical right parties (PRR) arguably have benefited from high media attention, since their provocative (discursive) strategies largely fulfill the media logic. Once the PRR has established itself, however, there are fewer reasons to assume that media treatment should be much different compared to other mainstream parties. To shed light on this question, this paper aims, first, to show whether the PRR (still) finds large media attention and, second, to explain possible reasons for the amount of media attention. To this end, this paper includes an analysis of the 200 most salient communication events and issues in six Swiss newspapers from 2002 to 2009. Answers are provided as to whether political cleavages play a decisive role for the amount of media attention, or whether it is the interplay of strategies of political parties to acquire or reconfirm issue ownership and the media logic that favors populist issues and actors.