Introducing Organizational Parallelism:
A Content Analysis of the Prominence Newspapers Give to Different Types of Organizations Vivienne D.M.C. Raijmakers
University of Amsterdam
Student Number: 10003359 Master’s Thesis
Graduate School of Communication
Master’s programme Communication Science Corporate Communication track
Supervisor: Dr. M. Boukes Date: 01-02-2019
Abstract
The media often emphasize certain topics in their news content. For example, the literature uses the term “political parallelism” to indicate that certain media prefer specific political parties. The present study was conducted to investigate whether such preferences also apply to other types of organizations – that is, whether the phenomenon of “organizational
parallelism” exists. On the basis of a quantitative content analysis (n = 522) among three types of newspapers (financial, quality, and popular), it was tested to what extent newspapers report more prominently on three different organizations – namely, corporate organizations, public organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Results show that financial newspapers prefer corporate organizations, which are the most prominent in this type of newspaper. Both quality newspapers and popular newspapers reported on public organizations most prominently. The results also show that NGOs receive little media attention and therefore are not prominent in any of the three types of newspapers. Thus, this research shows that the concept of organizational parallelism can be introduced to the field of corporate communication: Certain newspapers prefer to report on specific types of
organizations. Communications professionals can benefit from this when sending out press releases. A suggestion for future research is to include a fourth type of organization.
Keywords: financial newspapers, quality newspapers, popular newspapers,
prominence, quantitative content analysis, corporate organizations, public organizations, non-governmental organizations, political parallelism
Introducing Organizational Parallelism
A Content Analysis of the Prominence Newspapers Give to Different Types of Organizations A recent scientific study concluded that Dutch newspapers are twice as likely to report on press releases from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as they are to those from corporate organizations (Keulemans, 2018). According to the study, newspapers more often publish stories about NGOs, and journalists more closely align themselves with the views of NGOs in terms of compassion (Boumans, 2016).
For many countries, objectivity in the news is more often the exception than the rule (Lelkes, 2016). This is because media have a clear preference for reflecting certain political orientations in their news and current affairs coverage; this phenomenon is called “political parallelism”(Berkel, 2006). The concept of political parallelism was introduced by Seymour-Ure in 1974 as “party/press parallelism”. It refers to the ties between a medium and a political actor (Hardy, 2008). The question of the present thesis is whether the theory of “parallelism” also applies to the coverage of other types of organizations.
Since the concept of political parallelism has been introduced, much research has been carried out in the United States; however, the generalizability of that research to other
countries, such as the Netherlands, has not yet been assessed to any significant extent (Lelkes, 2016). The medium that is most often investigated in relation to political parallelism is the newspaper (Baumgartner & Chaqués Bonafont, 2015). Three types of newspapers that reflect the variety of organizational media coverage in the Netherlands are financial, quality, and popular newspapers (Wonneberger & Jacobs, 2017). These newspapers may be oriented toward a type of organization, such as cultural and social organizations, non-profit organizations, or others that give their opinions on problems of general interest (Mancini, 2012).
Corporate organizations, public organizations, and NGOs fulfil different roles in society (Wonneberger & Jacobs, 2017). The process of whether or not news is passed on by the media, and in what way it is passed on, is known as “gatekeeping” (Schoemaker & Vos, 2009). How and how often an organization is reported in a newspaper relates to that
organization’s prominence, and such reporting can affect the media reputation of the organization (Deephouse, 2000). Therefore, this research investigates whether specific newspapers report on specific types of organizations more frequently than on others and thus whether closer ties exist between specific newspapers and specific organizations.
It is important for organizations to know whether certain newspaper types prefer reporting on certain organizations and how they express this preference: Whether
organizational parallelism appears in newspapers. This knowledge could be useful in helping communications professionals make decisions about the selective mailing of organizational releases (Morton, 1986). Newspapers have a great influence on the public agenda by determining which organizations appear in print and how they appear – that is, their
prominence (Andrews & Caren, 2010). Therefore, the research question of the current study is the following:
To what extent do specific types of newspapers report more prominently on corporate organizations, public organizations, or non-governmental organizations?
Theoretical Framework Linking Organizational Parallelism to Political Parallelism
The concept of political parallelism has led to a substantial amount of research into biased media (Hardy, 2008). According to De Albuquerque (2013), these studies have resulted in a clear definition of political parallelism: “the process of convergence of
political parties” (p. 746). This phenomenon concerns the coordination of newspapers with different ideological, political, and cultural views. These different views may appear in a newspaper selecting and handling news content with a preference for one party (Hallin & Mancini, 2004).
In theory, in addition to the media being prejudiced toward certain political parties, the same may be true regarding how the media covers other types of organizations that give their opinion on problems of general interest (Mancini, 2012). Journalists play a major role in this prejudice because of their political preferences. Therefore, organizations try to maintain a certain connection with the journalists of certain types of newspapers amongst others via their public relations (Mancini, 2012). These ties can be based on shared common political views or objectives, or on membership of the same elite circuits. Both journalists and media
channels are “neither neutral observers nor neutral voices” (p. 276). As a result, “parallelism” is spread, according to Mancini’s literature study (2012) on political parallelism.
If a type of medium prefers a particular type of organization over other types of organizations, this could be called organizational parallelism. In order to determine whether the existence of this new theoretical concept can be empirically verified, the prominence of different types of organizations in different types of newspapers is examined.
Types of Newspapers
Newspapers can be biased: They can have an opinion about certain types of
organizations. This may be because the founders or owners of newspapers may have certain ideological frameworks that they want to support (Mancini, 2012). Thus, different types of newspapers have different identities, and they target different audiences (Boukes &
Vliegenthart, 2017). The three most prominent types of national newspapers are financial, quality, and popular newspapers, as discussed in more detail below.
Financial Newspapers. Financial newspapers focus primarily on major corporations, popular brands, economic news, and occasionally topics that are understood by a larger audience (Doyle, 2006). Some studies indicate that financial newspapers have a pro-corporate bias (Bignon & Miscio, 2010; Tumber, 1993). They often focus on complex topics, such as regulatory issues (Bach, Weber & Quiring, 2013). Because of the many economic matters that are discussed in financial newspapers, a high financial literacy is important for readers
(Doyle, 2006). Therefore, such newspapers are tailored to specialist audiences (Arrese & Vara, 2015; Tuber, 1993). For example, some newspapers target investors who want to stay informed about investing in particular companies.
Quality Newspapers. The focus of quality newspapers is mainly on elite individuals and organizations, such as political parties or national institutions, that have a significant impact on society (Allern, 2002; Harcup & O’Neill, 2016). Quality newspapers emphasize developments that are politically relevant and related to policy making (Reinemann, Stanyer, Scherr, & Legnante, 2012). Therefore, quality newspapers are intended for the educated elite (Allern, 2002). A quality newspaper focuses on informing engaged citizens (Schaap &
Pleijter, 2012), and is more concerned with its public responsibility (Kleinnijenhuis, Oegema, De Ridder, & Van Hoof, 2007). The aim is objectivity and in-depth stories (Skovsgaard, 2014). These in-depth stories are more focused on foreign countries (e.g., European politics) than popular newspapers (Schaap & Pleijter, 2012; Trendz, 2004). Other topics include science, technology, major issues, or significant disruptions in daily life, such as natural disasters, accidents, fires, violence, and anonymous citizens (Schaap & Pleijter, 2012).
Popular Newspapers. Popular newspapers concentrate on reaching the widest possible audience (Strömbäck, Karlsson, & Hopmann, 2012) and want to appeal to
“everyone” through a combination of news and distraction/entertainment (Allern, 2002). This combination of subjects is presented in the most sensational way possible, which means that there is often a great deal of negativity in the coverage (Schaap & Pleijter, 2012; Skovsgaard, 2014). In addition, popular newspapers’ discussion of politics is often as light as possible so that a given subject can be understood by any type of audience (Curtice & Mair, 2008). Other common topics are human interest, sports, celebrities, and other entertainment-related stories (Patterson, 2000).
Types of Organizations
To find out whether the types of newspapers have a certain preference for reporting on specific types of organizations, the core characteristics of the three main types of
organizations are considered below: corporate organizations, public organizations, and NGOs.
Corporate Organizations. Corporate organizations aim to make as much profit as possible because profit is important for the survival of an organization (Boyne, 2002; Tyler & Stanley, 1999) and for the goals of its stakeholders. By producing products and/or services, this profit will increase (Tyler & Stanley, 1999). Economic activities, such as investments, are therefore important for the growth of a company.
An example of corporate organizations is multinational corporations, which are based in several countries and often have a high reputation (Kennedy, Welch & Monshipouri, 2017), such as Heineken, the largest beer brand in the world. Corporations want to be seen as unique, and they see corporate reputation as an important part of that (Wæraas & Byrkjeflot, 2012).
For this reason, they spend significant money on public relations so that they appear in the news as much as possible (Schafraad et al., 2016).
Public Organizations. The purpose of public sector organizations is to solve societal problems by offering services (Boyne, 2002). These types of organizations are linked to the government, and they include, for example, municipalities and the police. Public
organizations do not exist to make a profit. They receive public funding and must comply with political rules (Boyne, 2002) and are therefore accountable to the public (Liu, Horsley & Levenshus, 2010). As a result, journalists closely monitor this type of organization. Public organizations are exposed to many different stakeholders (Liu et al., 2010). However, public organization’s autonomy to speak freely or act independently from politics is limited (Wæraas & Byrkjeflot, 2012), so they are more cautious about media attention (Deacon & Monk, 2001).
Similarly to public organizations, semi-public organizations are partly financed from collective funds, but they also have a commercial interest. Nevertheless, their main objective is to solve social problems (Blokland, 2008), and thus they fall under the public sector. Examples of public and semi-public organizations include sports organizations (e.g.,
Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbal Bond), universities, national museums, associations, and the
Dutch Railways.
Non-Governmental Organizations. These non-profit organizations do not have commercial interests (Hague, 2011) and are funded by private and voluntary initiatives; thus, they are relatively autonomous from the state. In addition, although they are not controlled by the government, they must function in accordance with certain government regulations. Non-governmental organizations exist for various reasons: to assist in environmental protection,
health, developmental aid, or the promotion of human rights. Because NGOs focus on societal work, they have to reach the media with limited resources (Naude, Froneman & Atwood, 2004). Thus, it is important to cultivatea positive relationship with the media in order to attract “free” attention (Willetts, 2002). Therefore, NGOs are dependent on the media.
Non-governmental organizations want to get as much media attention as possible in order to make the public aware of the problems occurring in the world (Moro, 1998). The manipulation of images is one way that NGOs appeal to certain situations, which creates sensation around the work of NGOs (Moro, 1998). Because they are very problem-oriented, there is often significant negativity around NGOs. Examples of NGOs include action groups (i.e., those that carry out actions as demonstrations) and pressure groups (i.e., those that exert pressure on politicians); specific examples include the World Wildlife Fund, Amnesty International, and United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
The Communication from Organization to Newspaper to Organization: Agenda-Building and Gatekeeping
The way that organizations communicate influences how newspapers write about them. This process is called “agenda-building”: Organizations try to influence the media – for example, by sending out press releases (Schafraad et al., 2016). In so doing, an organization seeks to maintain or improve its reputation and tries to have an impact on the media agenda. Through this approach, organizations try to steer the media in a certain direction, and the media are provided with information subsidies (Berkowitz & Adams, 1990). The effect of agenda-building depends, among other things, on the source (e.g., type of organization) and type of information (e.g., the subject or the presence of certain news values).
Vice versa, the media also have an impact on organizations – in particular, on their reputation. When the media receive press releases from organizations, or when they look for
news themselves, they make choices regarding what they actually report; they filter certain subjects and aspects (Schoemaker & Vos, 2009). This process is called “gatekeeping”, and it shows that the media are of interest to organizations due to how those media select which news to report. This selection can affect the reputation of the organizations (Deephouse, 2000). If news contains certain news values (i.e., the characteristics in an article that
determine the newsworthiness), it can pass through the media gatekeepers almost unimpeded (Curtin, 1999; Schafraad et al., 2016). In this way, this news helps the media to build up the media agenda as well as influencing the public agenda, as the organization originally intended (Curtin, 1999). The question of whether the media prefer to report on certain types of
organizations and determining the public agenda resurfaces here. The media may prefer certain organizations, topics, and aspects in order to obtain more coverage or reach a wider audience – that is, organizational parallelism.
Prominence
The number of times a type of newspaper reports on a type of organization does not fully reflect how prominent a particular organization is in that newspaper. Based on first-level agenda-setting theory, (i.e., the possibility of the media to determine the subjects on the agenda of the public) the prominence of an organization in newspapers could lead to more public attention (Carroll & McCombs, 2003). In addition to the frequency of an organization being reported on, the following characteristics determine the prominence of an organization in the media: an article’s volume, placement, relevance, role, and standing (Wonneberger & Jacobs, 2017).
The number of words in an article, the volume, affects how prominently an
organization appears in a publication (Wonneberger & Jacobs, 2017). An organization can be discussed in more depth in a longer article. The higher the number of words, the longer the
article and the more prominent the organization appears. Moreover, placing – that is, the place in a newspaper where an organization is discussed – can influence the attention that the organization receives from the public (Wonneberger & Jacobs, 2017). An organization that is on the front page will receive more attention than an organization that is discussed in the last part of a newspaper. Thus, a lower page number means that the type of organization has a more prominent position in the newspaper. In addition, newspapers can present organizations as having either primary (i.e., a main story) or secondary (i.e., a side story) relevance (Carroll & Deephouse, 2014). Primary relevance refers to an organization that is seen as a main actor in a story, thus indicating that it has more prominence (Wonneberger & Jacobs, 2017).
Additionally, an organization can have an active or a passive role in a newspaper report. If the organization is allowed to make its voice heard, it is considered to be active, as soon as there is no voice from the organization this indicates a passive role (Ferree et al., 2002). An active role indicates that the organization has the opportunity to make itself heard, thus ensuring greater prominence (Wonneberger & Jacobs, 2017). With regard to standing, a distinction is made between actions that are highlighted by the organization itself (a direct quote) or that are described passively (an indirect quote) by someone outside the organization (Andrews & Caren, 2010). The presence of these quotes gives organizations the opportunity to convey their desired meaning regarding a situation described in an article (Ferree et al., 2002).
Comparing Newspapers with Organizations
In order to predict which type of organization receives the most prominent coverage from a type of newspaper, the characteristics of newspapers and organizations are compared below.
According to the literature, financial newspapers have a pro-corporate bias (Bignon & Miscio, 2010; Tumber, 1993). Their focus is on major corporate names, well-known brands,
and economic news (Doyle, 2006). The corporate organization matches these characteristics best. Corporate organizations often focus on economic activities, such as investments and growth (Tyler & Stanley, 1999). Thus, high financial literacy is important for the specialist audiences of financial newspapers (Tumber, 1993), such as investors who need to be informed about interesting potential companies to invest in (Arrese & Vara, 2015). Consideration of these trends led to the following hypothesis:
H1: Corporate organizations receive the most prominent coverage from financial
newspapers, as compared to quality and popular newspapers, in terms of (a) volume, (b) placing, (c) relevance, (d) active role, and (e) standing.
Quality newspapers are strongly focused on politically relevant developments (Reineman et al., 2012) and disruptions to daily life, such as accidents, fires, and violence (Schaap & Pleijter, 2012; Shoemaker & Cohen, 2006). These disruptions are often linked to public organizations that try to solve these problems, such as the fire department, the police, and the court. These are mainly governmental organizations and are therefore closely linked to politics (Boyne, 2002). For this reason, public organizations are expected to be the most prominent organizations in quality newspapers. In line with the above, the following hypothesis was developed:
H2: Public organizations receive the most prominent coverage from quality
newspapers, as compared to financial and popular newspapers, in terms of (a) volume, (b) placing, (c) relevance, (d) active role, and (e) standing
The desired audience of popular newspapers is as wide as possible (Allern, 2002; Strömbäck et al., 2012); therefore, human interest, which is linked to sensation, is a common topic (Skovsgaard, 2014). For example, one news factor of newsworthiness that creates sensation among a large audience is negativity (Schafraad et al., 2016; Skovsgaard, 2014). The organizations most clearly affiliated with these factors are NGOs, which are usually
problem-oriented (Moro, 1998). Thus, sensation and negativity are common factors for NGOs, which deal, for example, with natural disasters, poverty, hunger, and warzone
conflicts. In addition, NGOs also focus on human interest, such as human concerns, problems, and feelings (Moro, 1998). The horrible scenes often addressed by NGOs often create
compassion among the public (Moro, 1998). Popular newspapers commonly write about NGOs because reading about victims creates sensation among the public. As a result of these factors, the following hypothesis was developed:
H3: Non-governmental organizations receive the most prominent coverage from
popular newspapers, as compared to financial and quality newspapers, in terms of (a) volume, (b) placing, (c) relevance, (d) active role, and (e) standing.
Method
A quantitative content analysis of the articles of five Dutch newspapers was conducted. These five newspapers reflect the three different types of newspapers in the Netherlands (Wonneberger & Jacobs, 2017), and they have the largest circulation for each type of newspaper (Bakker, 2018): De Telegraaf and Algemeen Dagblad are the largest popular newspapers, de Volkskrant and NRC Handelsblad are the largest quality newspapers, and Het Financieele Dagblad is the only financial newspaper in the Netherlands.
Sampling Method
For the period from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2017, the units of analysis (i.e., newspaper articles) were retrieved from the LexisNexis database. Instead of using search terms, the articles of the specific newspapers were determined by obtaining dates from an random online generator (i.e., https://www.random.org/calendar-dates/). A constructed week was compiled per newspaper, thus indicating probability sampling. This week consisted of six
days, as the five newspapers do not publish newspapers on Sundays. Using a constructed week of sampling is the most efficient way to analyze newspapers because it produces better estimates and because the possibility of oversampling certain days is avoided (Riffe, Aust & Lacy, 1993). This method resulted in a sample of 3,034 newspaper articles.
Irrelevant articles were removed by manually checking whether the title of each article explicitly referred to a type of organization. This resulted in 522 articles (financial: n = 132, quality: n = 171, popular: n = 219), which is 17.2% of the initial sample. These articles were then analyzed for how prominently they reported on certain types of organizations.
Measurement
To determine the prominence of the types of organizations, the five components were separately measured in comparison with the independent (categorical) variable – namely, the type of organization present in the news article.
The dependent variables of both volume and placement were measured at the interval level. The volume of an article was operationalized as its number of words, and the page number of an article in the newspaper determined the placing. To find the average of these variables, one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used. To verify whether this analytical technique was appropriate for the data, Levene’s tests of homogeneity were performed to test whether the differences between the types of organizations had the same variance.
The variables of relevance, role, and standing were all measured at a dichotomous level. The relevance was measured by indicating whether there was a primary (1) or secondary (0) reference to an organization. If an organization had primary relevance, the discussion of the organization was central to the article. If it was mentioned as a side issue, it was coded as having secondary relevance. Moreover, an organization’s role in an article was
measured as either active (1) or passive (0). “Active” refers to actions and opinions from within the organization, and “passive” refers to actions and opinions from a journalist or other actors. The variable of standing was measured on the basis of two questions: (a) the presence (1) or absence (0) of at least one direct quote from the organization in the article and (b) the presence (1) or absence (0) of at least one indirect quote from someone outside the
organization. The analysis of these dichotomous variables was done by means of a chi-square test, providing insight into whether there was a relationship between two categorical
variables.
Coder Training and Reliability
To guarantee the reliability of the quantitative content analysis, an extra coder was deployed to test the intercoder reliability. This extra coder was trained to fully understand the codebook. See Appendix 1 for the codebook. To test the intercoder reliability, a random date was selected for each newspaper, which led to 496 articles for the pretest. Of these articles, 93 articles met the condition of the presence of an organization in the title of the article. To finally test 10% of the 522 articles, 53 of the 93 articles that met the condition were randomly selected for the pretest. The intercoder reliability was measured using Krippendorff’s alpha (α), which is best suited as a standard because it can be used for any number of coders (Hayes & Krippendorff, 2007). The pretest indicated high intercoder reliability. The highest score was obtained for volume and placement (for both tests, Krippendorff’s α = 1.00), and for these variables, only numbers had to be copied. The lowest score was obtained for the
presence of indirect quotes (Krippendorff’s α = 0.75), but this score is still reliable. See Table 1 for all Krippendorff’s α scores. After this pretest, the principal investigator conducted the further coding work.
Table 1.
Krippendorff’s alpha scores for intercoder reliability.
Variables Krippendorff’s alpha
Type of newspaper 0.95 Circulation date 0.99 Title 0.98 Type of organization 0.89 Volume 1.00 Placing 1.00 Relevance 0.78 Role 0.84
Standing: direct quotes 0.90
Standing: indirect quotes 0.75
Results Descriptive Statistics
Out of the total sample (n = 3,034), 522 articles referred to an organization in the title. For financial newspapers, there were 363 articles in the total sample, of which 36.4% (n = 132) referred to an organization in the title. For quality newspapers, 1,240 articles were analyzed, of which 13.8% (n = 171) were relevant for use. Of the 1,637 articles that appeared in popular newspapers, 13.4% (n = 219) were used for the study. Clearly, the financial outlet paid the most attention to the organizations under investigation.
Table 2 provides an overview of the three types of organizations reported in the different types of newspapers. Corporate organizations were mentioned in 228 of the 522
articles and in 75% of financial newspapers (99 out of 132). Public organizations were referred to in 287 articles. Articles on this subject appeared in 70.2% of quality newspapers (120 out of 171), but also in 61.6% of popular newspapers (135 out of 219).
Non-governmental organizations were only mentioned in seven articles, and 2.3% (n = 5) of these appeared in popular newspapers.
Financial newspapers thus reported the most on corporate organizations, in 75% (99 out of 132) of their articles; quality newspapers reported the most on public organizations, in 70.2% (120 out of 171) of their articles; and popular newspapers also reported frequently on public organizations, in 61.6% (135 out of 219) of their articles.
Table 2.
The types of organizations reported in newspapers.
Number of articles Percentage of articles
Corporate organizations Financial newspapers 99/132 75.0 Quality newspapers 50/171 29.2 Popular newspapers 79/219 36.1 Public organizations Financial newspapers 32/132 24.2 Quality newspapers 120/171 70.2 Popular newspapers 135/219 61.6
Table 2. Continued. Non-governmental organizations Financial newspapers 1/132 0.8 Quality newspapers 1/171 0.6 Popular newspapers 5/219 2.3 Corporate Organizations
As mentioned above, corporate organizations appeared most often in financial newspapers, in 75% of their articles. In order to test whether this type of organization was also featured the most prominently in financial newspapers, the first hypothesis was tested. The first hypothesis predicts that corporate organizations receive the most prominent
coverage in financial newspapers, as compared to quality and popular newspapers, in terms of (a) volume, (b) placing, (c) relevance, (d) active role, and (e) standing. In all hypotheses, the independent variable is the type of newspaper, and the dependent variables are the five indicators.
Volume. To test the first hypothesis, an ANOVA was performed for the volume of
news about corporate organizations.1 For the volume, a significant, small effect was found between the type of newspaper and the volume of articles on corporate organizations, F (2, 225) = 5.97, p = .003, η² = 0.05. The volume of articles was highest in financial newspapers (M = 390.75, SD = 340.89). After this, the volume of articles in quality newspapers was measured (M = 342.29, SD = 295.58), and popular newspapers were found to have the
1
Because the distribution of articles about corporate organizations was not evenly distributed over the types of newspapers, equal variances have been checked. There were no significant different variances between the distribution of the types of newspapers, F (2, 225) = 2.43, p = .09, therefore, a one-way ANOVA was performed.
smallest volume of articles on corporate organizations (M = 233.18, SD = 258.76). Therefore, Hypothesis 1a is confirmed. A post-hoc Bonferroni test showed that the difference between financial and popular newspapers was significant (Mdifference = 157.57, p = .002). The
difference between financial and quality newspapers (Mdifference = 48.47, p = 1.000) and
between popular and quality newspapers (Mdifference = 109.10, p = .146) was not significant. Placing. For the placing, a one-way ANOVA was also performed, and a significant,
large effect was found between the type of newspaper and where articles on corporate
organizations were placed, F (2, 225) = 30.85, p < .001, η² = 0.22. Most financial newspapers placed articles about corporate organizations at the front of the newspaper (M = 10.72, SD = 5.78), because the lower the score, the more articles were in front of the newspaper. The average page number of the articles in quality newspapers followed (M = 15.14, SD = 11.52), with the placing of articles in popular newspapers that were least at the front of the newspaper (M = 21.72, SD = 11.13). Hypothesis 1b, which predicts that corporate organizations receive the most prominent coverage in financial newspapers in terms of placing is thus confirmed. The variance between the types of newspapers was significant, F (2, 225) = 14.11, p < .001, so a Games-Howell test for unequal variances was conducted. This Games-Howell test
confirmed that the differences between financial and quality newspapers (Mdifference = 4.42, p =
.034), between financial and popular newspapers (Mdifference = 11.00, p < .001), and between
popular and quality newspapers (Mdifference = 6.58, p < .001) were all significant.
Relevance. The categorical variables of relevance, role, and standing were tested using
chi-square tests. The relevance, which indicates whether an organization appears in a primary or secondary manner in an article, significantly differed between the types of newspapers, χ² (2) = 7.84, p = .020. However, this connection was very weak, tau = 0.03. Corporate
organizations were found in financial newspapers in a primary way in 96% of the articles (95 out of 99 articles). In popular newspapers, this was the case in 84.8% (67 out of 79 articles),
and in quality newspapers, in 84% (42 out of 50 articles). This confirms Hypothesis 1c: In this study, corporate organizations received the most prominent coverage in financial newspapers in terms of relevance.
Role. The role an organization has in an article was measured by indicating whether
that role was passive or active. Actions and opinions from within the organization indicate an active role, and actions and opinions from a journalist or from other actors indicate a passive role. There was a significant difference between the types of newspapers and the role
corporate organizations play, χ² (2) = 34.40, p < .001. However, this relationship was weak, tau = 0.15. Corporate organizations played an active role in financial newspapers in 84.8% (84 out of 99 articles). In quality newspapers, this was only the case in 50% (25 of the 50 articles) and in popular newspapers, in 45.6% (36 out of 79 articles). Therefore, corporate organizations played the most active role in financial newspapers, so Hypothesis 1d is confirmed.
Standing. The standing of types of organizations was tested by determining the
presence of direct and indirect quotes. There was a significant difference between the types of newspapers and the presence of both direct quotes (χ² (2) = 10.11, p = .006) and indirect quotes (χ² (2) = 24.44, p < .001). The relationship between newspaper types and direct quotes was very weak, tau = 0.04, as well as between newspaper types and indirect quotes, tau = 0.11. In 53.5% of the articles (53 out of 99 articles) about corporate organizations in financial newspapers, there was at least one direct quote present. In quality newspapers, this was the case in 38% (19 out of 50 articles) and in popular newspapers, 30.4% (24 out of 79 articles). Direct quotes are therefore most common in articles about corporate organizations in financial newspapers. Indirect quotes were also most often present in the articles of financial
out of 50 articles), and by popular newspapers, with 17.7% (14 out of 79 articles). Thus, Hypothesis 1e is also confirmed.
Public Organizations
The second hypothesis addresses the prominence of public organizations in quality newspapers, as compared to financial and popular newspapers. Public organizations appeared the most in the articles in quality newspapers, in 70.2%. In popular newspapers, they appeared 61.6% of the time, and in financial newspapers, 24.2%. It was tested whether public
organizations appeared more prominently in terms of (a) volume, (b) placing, (c) relevance, (d) active role, and (e) standing.
Volume. The type of newspaper had a significant, small effect on the volume of
articles published about public organizations, F (2, 284) = 6.47, p = .002, η² = 0.04. Such articles had the largest volume in quality newspapers (M = 421.25, SD = 314.73), followed by the articles in financial newspapers (M = 316.78, SD = 204.50) and by those in popular newspapers (M = 300.09, SD = 250.23). This corresponds with Hypothesis 2a. The variance between the different groups of newspapers was significant, F (2, 284) = 5.13, p = .006, so a Games-Howell test was performed. This showed that only the difference between quality and popular newspapers is significant (Mdifference = 121.16, p = .002). The differences between
quality and financial newspapers (Mdifference = 104.47, p = .068) and between popular and
financial newspapers (Mdifference = 16.69, p = .917) were not significant.
Placing. The type of newspaper had no significant effect on where articles about
corporate organizations were placed, F (2, 284) = 0.39, p = .689. Public organizations were most often placed at the front of financial newspapers (M = 8.53, SD = 4.44), followed by quality newspapers (M = 10.94, SD = 9.44) and popular newspapers (M = 12.33, SD = 31.96); however, these differences were not significant. Hypothesis 2b, thus, is rejected.
Relevance. The relevance of public organizations differed significantly in the different
types of newspapers, χ² (2) = 58.96, p < .001. However, the relationship was weak, tau = 0.21. Public organizations most often had a primary role in quality newspapers, in 96.7% of the articles (116 out of 120 articles), thus confirming Hypothesis 2c. In popular newspapers, this was the case in 95.6% (129 out of 135 articles), and in financial newspapers, in 56.3% (19 out of 32 articles). However, public organizations appeared to have almost as often a primary role in the articles of quality newspapers as in those of popular newspapers; the difference
between is only minor (a difference of 1.1%).
Role. There was a significant difference between the type of newspaper and the role
that public organizations played in the articles, χ² (2) = 35.02, p < .001. This relationship was weak, tau = 0.12. Public organizations most often had an active role in quality newspapers, in 85% (102 out of 118 articles). Subsequently, they had an active role in popular newspapers, in 81.5% (110 out of 135 articles), and in financial newspapers, in 37.5% of the articles (12 out of 32 articles). This means Hypothesis 2d is confirmed. The difference between quality newspapers and popular newspapers regarding how active a role public organizations play is only minor (4.5%).
Standing. Regarding standing, for both direct quotes, χ² (2) = 9.78, p = .008 and for
indirect quotes, χ² (2) = 16.39, p < .001, a significant difference was found between the types of newspapers. The relationship between the type of newspaper and the presence of direct quotes was very weak, tau = 0.03. In 65% of the articles (78 out of 120 articles) on public organizations, direct quotes were present in quality newspapers, in 57% of the articles (77 out of 135 articles) in popular newspapers, and in 34.4% of the articles (11 out of 32 articles) in financial newspapers. In this regard, the difference between the presence of direct quotes in quality newspapers and popular newspapers was small (8%). The relationship between the type of newspapers and indirect quotes was also very weak, tau = 0.06. In 58.3% of the
articles (70 out of 120 articles) in quality newspapers, a direct quote was present. In popular newspapers, this was the case in 37.8% articles (51 out of 135), and in financial newspapers, in 25% (8 out of 32 articles). Hypothesis 2e thus is also confirmed.
The results indicate that the public organizations were the most prominent in quality newspapers; however, this difference with popular newspapers is only minor in terms of relevance, role, and standing (direct quotes).
Non-Governmental Organizations
The third hypothesis predicts that NGOs receive the most prominent coverage from popular newspapers in terms of (a) volume, (b) placing, (c) relevance, (d) active role, and (e) standing. These organizations only appeared seven times in all newspapers – namely, five times in popular newspapers, once in a financial newspaper, and once in a quality newspaper. Inferential statistics are not applicable because of this small number of observations.
Therefore, the results of NGOs are described qualitatively.
Volume. The volume of the only article pertaining to an NGO in a quality newspaper
is 626 words. The five articles about NGOs in popular newspapers have an average of 229 words (SD = 209.09). The article in the financial newspaper has a length of 219 words. So, NGOs are not the most prominent in popular newspapers as Hypothesis 3a predicted; rather, they are most prominent in the quality newspaper. The limited evidence available does not support Hypothesis 3a.
Placing. The placing of NGOs shows the most prominence not in popular newspapers
but in the quality newspaper. The only article in the quality newspaper was on page two. Non-governmental organizations were placed on average on page seven of popular newspapers (M = 7.20, SD = 5.17). The only article in the financial newspaper appeared on page 12. Thus,
Hypothesis 3b, which indicates that NGOs receive the most prominent place in popular newspapers, is not sufficiently supported.
Relevance. Whether NGOs have a primary or secondary role in newspaper articles is
demonstrated by their relevance. In this study, NGOs most often had a primary role in popular newspapers – namely, in four out of five articles. The only article in the financial newspaper was of primary relevance, as was the only article in the quality newspaper. Even though there is little evidence, these findings are in line with Hypothesis 3c. Thus, this study found that NGOs were of primary relevance in popular newspapers more often than in the financial and quality newspapers.
Role. Hypothesis 3d predicts that NGOs are more likely to have an active role in
articles from popular newspapers. This hypothesis is supported by the few articles that were analyzed. In popular newspapers, NGOs played an active role in four out of five articles. The role of NGOs was reported in a passive way in the article from the financial newspapers, and in an active way in the article from the quality newspapers
Standing. In order to measure the standing of NGOs, the presence of direct and
indirect quotes was taken into account. Direct quotes in articles about NGOs were present in the three out of the five articles from popular newspapers. The article from the quality newspaper had one direct quote, and the article from the financial newspaper had no direct quotes. Indirect quotes were only present in two of the five articles in popular newspapers and not at all in the financial or quality newspapers. Thus, because NGOs are not obviously more prominent in popular newspapers than in the quality newspaper and the financial newspaper, Hypothesis 3e is not supported.
Discussion
In this study, research was conducted to answer this research question: To what extent do specific types of newspapers report more prominently on corporate organizations, public organizations, or non-governmental organizations? A codebook was used to perform a
quantitative content analysis, and the articles were collected by compiling a constructed week. This method of sampling newspaper articles avoids the possibility of oversampling certain days. As argued by Riffe et al. (1993), this is the best way to keep the results the same when the study is repeated. Therefore, the results of this study can be considered valid.
The results show that corporate organizations were most frequently and most prominently reported on in the financial newspapers, as compared to quality and popular newspapers, in terms of volume, placing, relevance, active role, and standing. This is fully in line with previous literature indicating that financial newspapers have a pro-corporate bias (Bignon & Miscio, 2010; Tumber, 1993). Indeed, the financial newspapers ensured that the longest articles were on corporate organizations, also placing such stories at the front of the newspaper. Corporations were also given primary prominence and were actively involved in the articles pertaining to them, with both direct and indirect quotes.
As predicted, public organizations were reported on most often and most prominently featured in quality newspapers, as compared to popular and financial newspapers, in terms of volume, relevance, active role, and standing. This type of newspaper often focuses on
disruptions to daily life (Schaap & Pleijter, 2012; Shoemaker & Cohen, 2006) and is therefore linked to public organizations that address these disruptions. This prominence, however, did not apply to the placing of the articles. One possible explanation for this result is that
journalists of quality newspapers choose to place longer articles later in the newspaper in order to be able to pay more attention to them. The larger articles will, therefore, not be
placed at the front of the newspaper, but more in the middle, so that there is more room to discuss the subject in detail.
Although there were only a limited number of news articles about NGOs, they were most often mentioned in popular newspapers. They also received the most prominent
coverage from popular newspapers in terms of relevance and active role. For volume, placing and standing, no relationships were found. Only seven articles were found in the three types of newspapers. This is not in line with the conclusion reached in the study by Boumans (2016), who concluded that NGOs more often appear in newspapers than corporate organizations. Due to this low number, it was not worthwhile to test this third hypothesis using inferential statistics; therefore, the presence of the five components was discussed for each type of newspaper. A possible cause for the low number of articles about NGOs and their lack of prominence is that NGOs emphasize the social problems of silent minorities in society (Gamson, 2004). The media often focus on organizations with a larger capacity – organizations with many staff, resources, and members – to secure media attention (Andrews & Caren, 2010). Because many NGOs have a smaller capacity than most corporate and public organizations, they are less powerful, and their relationship with the media is less strong (Wonneberger & Jacobs, 2017).
In conclusion, this research shows that specific types of newspapers report more prominently on specific types of organizations. Financial newspapers report most prominently on corporate organizations. Quality newspapers and popular newspapers report most
prominently on public organizations. The theoretical idea of parallelism thus applies to the coverage of other types of organizations, and political parallelism can be translated into organizational parallelism. Certain newspapers prefer to report on specific types of organizations.
The current research’s finding that the concept of political parallelism can be extended to organizational parallelism adds to the existing literature: There are not only ties between media and political actors (Berkel, 2006) but also between media and other types of
organizations. In addition, existing research that focused mainly on (political) parallelism in the United States (Lelkes, 2016) has now been expanded to the Netherlands. Understanding the relationship between media and other types of organizations can be helpful for
communications professionals who make decisions about selectively sending press releases to newspapers (Morton, 1986). In so doing, they can influence the process of agenda-building and can affect the media reputation of their organizations (Einwiller, Carroll & Korn, 2010). Moreover, such professionals have the opportunity to compare their organizations with those of their colleagues in order to reflect and learn (Wonneberger & Jacobs, 2017): Finding out the prominence of their organization in a newspaper, and that of others, can result in adjusting their communication strategies. Regarding the types of newspapers, these results provide an opportunity to broaden their type of public. For example, popular newspapers can focus more on prominently reporting articles about corporate organizations to attract the audience from the financial newspapers. For the public, the results are relevant when they are looking for coverage on a specific type of organization. It also becomes clear that coverage of NGOs is hardly to find in these three types of newspapers, so the public may have a better chance of finding coverage of this type of organization via other media.
Limitations and Future Research
Despite the value of this study, it did face a number of limitations. First, the results of this study would likely be the same for a larger sample and for repeated research (Riffe et al., 1993), the sample of this study is not necessarily representative of other years. The presence and prominence of organizations in newspapers from 2017 do not reflect newspaper articles
from the past or the present. The daily events at the time of data collection are not permanent, so it is difficult to reveal trends over time. To some extent, therefore, it remains difficult to make predictions about how organizations will be reported (Wonneberger & Jacobs, 2017).
Secondly, articles containing personification were not included in the sample. The articles in the sample were selected by analyzing their titles. If the title referenced the name of an organization, the article was included in the sample. It is noteworthy that in those titles, the people of the organization were often referred to instead of the organization itself. These persons were representatives of the organizations, such as the CEO of a bank. This concept is called personification (Davies, 2001). This study did not include articles with titles that only used personification without explicitly mention the organization’s name. This decision was made because the reputation of a person is debatable; therefore, it can be difficult to place a person at a type of organization only on the basis of the title. Nevertheless, newspapers sometimes decide that an organization is so well known that referencing the CEO is sufficient to identify the organization. Therefore, including articles with personification in the sample is an interesting possibility for future research.
A few more options for future research relate to the types of organizations and the types of newspapers. A fourth type of organization has not been studied. There are three general types of organizations to which articles could refer: corporate organizations, public organizations, and NGOs. However, it may be interesting to distinguish between types of organizations in more detail. In this research, semi-public organizations were considered to be public organizations, but semi-public organizations have some public responsibility and some commercial interest (Blokland, 2008). It is possible that semi-public organizations would more accurately be classified as corporate organizations; therefore, this type of organization could be analyzed as a separate type of organization in future research.
Also, there is a fourth type of newspaper that has not been studied. The organizations considered in this research appeared in three types of newspapers. According to Wonneberger and Jacobs (2017), these three types of newspapers generally reflect daily Dutch newspapers. However, several studies have added another type of newspaper to the sample: the regional daily newspaper (e.g., Boukes & Vliegenthart, 2017; Ter Wal, d’Haenens & Koeman, 2005). For future research, this fourth type of newspaper could be analyzed to determine whether it more prominently features a certain type of organization, which could be useful information for communications professionals.
However, this research analyzed three types of newspapers, and did show a preference for types of organizations. Thus, this study supports the introduction of organizational
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Appendix 1 Codebook
This codebook was drawn up to establish the relationship between types of newspapers and the prominence of types of organizations in those newspapers. The articles that will be coded are obtained from the LexisNexis database, from the following newspapers: Telegraaf,
Algemeen Dagblad, de Volkskrant, the NRC Handelsblad and Het Financieele Dagblad. To
code the articles, Qualtrics is used, via this program a questionnaire will be answered per article.
The Qualtrics questionnaire consists of two parts: the first part focuses on general questions and the second part is about the five components that measure the prominence of the organization. There is an explicit request to clearly read and follow the instructions.
Part A: General
The following questions relate to the article in general.
1. What is the article number?
Give the article a number. The newspaper in which the article is published gets numbers 1 to 5. After the number of the newspaper, write a dot (.) and then write down the number of the article. The numbers of the newspapers: Het Financieele Dagblad = 1, de Volkskrant = 2, NRC Handelsblad = 3, De Telegraaf = 4, Algemeen Dagblad= 5.
For example: the first article that is coded from Het Financieele Dagblad gets article number: 1.1. The fifth article that is coded from this newspaper gets article number 1.5. The fortieth article coded by De Telegraaf gets article number 4.40, and so on.
2. What is the source of the article?
Code the newspaper in which the article is displayed.
0 = Het Financieele Dagblad 1 = de Volkskrant
2 = NRC Handelsblad 3 = De Telegraaf 4 = Algemeen Dagblad
3. What is the newspaper’s circulation date?
Write the date of the newspaper as day-month-year.
For example: 24 November 2017, write this down as 24-11-2017.
4. What is the title of the article?
Copy the title of the article completely.
5. To what type of organization does the organization mentioned in the article belong to?
If one type of organization is mentioned in the title, focus on this type of organization to answer the question.
When several organizations are mentioned in the title belonging to the same type of organization, focus on this type of organization.
When two or more types of organizations are mentioned in the title, answer the codebook first for the first type of organization mentioned and then for the second type of organization. The article will, therefore, have two article numbers. For example: “Universities influence the
turnover of Albert Heijn”. Two types of organizations are mentioned here, namely a public organization (universities) and a corporate organization (Albert Heijn). First answer the 11 questions for the public organization and then again for the corporate organization.
Code “0” if the organization is a corporate organization. This type of organization focuses on making a profit, and economic activities such as investments and growth are important. Examples are: banks, beer breweries, oil companies, restaurants, airlines, supermarkets, health insurance companies, etcetera.
Code “1” when the organization is a public organization. Public organizations are aimed at solving social problems by offering services, they are linked to the government. Examples are: courts, educational institutions, national museums, sports organizations, Schiphol, Dutch Railways, PostNL, television broadcasters such as VARA/NPO, care institutions, political parties, police, municipalities, and the Royal Family.
Code “2” if the organization is an NGO. An NGO is not profit-oriented, has no commercial purpose, and is not linked to the government. Examples are World Wildlife Fund, Amnesty International, UNICEF, action groups (carrying out actions as demonstrations), pressure groups (exerting pressure on politicians), peace movements.
0 = Corporate organization 1 = Public organization
2 = Non-governmental organization
Part B: The prominence
The following questions relate to the prominence of the organization displayed in the newspaper.
Volume
6. What is the volume of the article?
Write down the number of words of the article. This number of words is displayed in the article after LENGTH. If no number of words is displayed, write “0”.
For example: LENGTH: 486 words. Note: 486
Placing
7. What is the placement of the article in the newspaper?
Write down the page number of the article in the newspaper. When two pages are displayed, write down the first number. The page number is displayed in the article after SECTION.
For example: SECTION: FINANCIAL; Page 3. Note: 3
Relevance
8. Is the organization referred to as “primary” or “secondary” in the article?
Code “0” for secondary. When the organization is called secondary in the article it is when the main subject is not related to the organization itself. The organization mentioned in the title does not play the leading role in the article, but is ultimately named as a side issue. For example: “The celebrity star Kim Kardashian takes off shoes in a restaurant”. The article shows that this is not about the restaurant, but about the celebrity star who takes off her shoes on outdoor locations, and the article goes into the hygiene of the celebrity. The corporate organization, the restaurant, is not very relevant here and is seen as secondary.
Code “1” for primary. If the organization is primarily referred to, the organization mentioned in the title is the most important subject in the article. The article is about this organization. For example: “Sumo restaurant expands to five more cities”. The entire article
here is about the restaurant, because much profit is made. This organization is therefore central in the article and has a primary role.
0 = Secondary 1= Primary
Role
9. Does the organization have an active or a passive role in the article?
Code “0” for a passive role when journalists or other actors talk about the actions or opinions of the organization. The organization is talked about by someone outside the organization. For example: “Residents of Amsterdam-West indicate that the municipality is not doing enough with regard to the shortage of parking spaces”. The article is aimed at local residents who have many complaints about the municipality but the organization does not get a voice in the article and a response is not visible.
Code “1” for an active role. An active role indicates direct actions or opinions by the organization. For example: “ABN AMRO takes action to retain ATMs”. The article focuses on the bank’s actions to keep people happy, giving the bank an active role and their voices are heard.
0 = Passive role 1= Active role
Quotes
Code “1” for the presence of at least one direct quote. A direct quote is a quote from the organization itself. For example: “We try to transport as much food as possible from A to B in order to feed the animals in the problem area”, says the CEO of WWF.
Code “0” if there is no direct quote.
0 = No direct quote present
1= At least one direct quote present
11. Is the organization mentioned with at least an indirect quote?
Code “1” for the presence of at least one indirect quote. An indirect quote is a quote about the organization that comes from other actors. This actor is separate from the organization. For example: “As much food as possible is transported by WWF to help the animals”, according to the journalist in the problem area.
Code “0” if there is no indirect quote.
0 = No indirect quote present
