Politică și societate

Just how tabloidized is tabloid press?
Personalization, sensationalism and negativism in the coverage
of the Romanian presidential elections, 2009
 

FLORINA CREŢU¹
[National School of Political and Administrative Science]

Abstract:
The problematics of the public sphere, as firstly outlined by Habermas, has triggered many reflections concerning the metamorphoses in political communication. In this regard, one of the most prominent phenomenona approached in the established literature of media transformations refers to that of tabloidization. According to different scholars, not only are journalistic discourses heading towards a tabloidized style of reporting, but also these practices tend to hinder the creation of public spheres. The present study wishes to understand the relation between these two assertions and empirically, to test their validity on the Romanian tabloid media. Particularly, it aims at exploring whether the tabloids’ news coverage of the last presidential elections meets the general standards of what is called „tabloidization”; and if so, how this may affect our definitions of the public sphere.

Keywords: trends in political communication; personalization and sensationalism of tabloid discourses; negative reporting; Romanian tabloid media

1. Introduction: the public sphere and the page 5 syndrome

Habermas’ first work on the public sphere and „the commodification” of the public realm² has initiated different perspectives, concerning both the meanings of this concept³ and the transformations it signaled⁴.

The commercialization of political communication, as this process has broadly been coined by scholars, has been the subject of ample research and was given many names in the established literature. From „Americanization”⁵ to „mediacracy”⁶ and „tabloidization”⁷academics have tried to designate, one way or another, the changes occurring in the media coverage of political events. Generally, they referred to an allegedly growing journalistic style that values sensationalist discourses, a particular focus on the personality of politicians, as opposed to policies or political programs, and a negative trend of reporting. Supposedly, this would result in citizens’ apathy towards politics⁸, a general „dumbing down”⁹ and the dissolution of certain democratic values, as we know them.

The overwhelmingly pessimistic view over these changes in political communication has developed to the extent where different journalistic genres were classified as being or not part of the public sphere¹⁰. This was particularly the case of tabloid and tabloidized media, considered idle for everyday opinion formation, through their playful and brief style of reporting¹¹. We find this type of approach not only sterile in our understanding of media dynamics, but also narrow, in what regards the definitions of tabloidization and the public sphere, generally. How can these concepts be defined? Is there a general trend of tabloidization? And if so, does this necessarily involve a dissolution of the public sphere? These questions will represent the landmarks of this paper. However, answering them requires a deeper understanding of the broader context they stem from, that of mass-media commercialization and its associated processes. Thus, the next section of this study will try to address this issue.

2. The mediated public sphere: structural transformations in political communication

The public realm’s colonization by the entertainment industry represented one of the first statements that defined both the transformations occurring in the public sphere and the eloignment from its normative ideal. Thus, originally, the public sphere was understood as „the sphere of the individuals that gather as a public”¹², a rational, deliberative space of engagement between citizens and public authorities, designed to reach the common good. According to Habermas¹³, the current public sphere, represented by political journalism, lacks a certain sense of rationality, sobriety, objectivity and deliberative potential.

Generally, this approach of the evolution of political communication has generated endless debates concerning the media’s role in contemporary democracies, and especially that of television. Although the various points of view expressed in this regard stress on distinct perspectives, they converge in the following postulate: because the media represent our main sources of information and interaction with the political world, they represent the public sphere. In this context, they are seen as placing themselves in the center of political processes, shaping the public agenda¹⁴ and even the practices of political institutions¹⁵, generating what is called a „mediated public sphere”¹⁶.

Thus, some authors have taken the Habermasian stand, affirming that by using sensationalist discourses, influenced by popular culture elements, the quality of modern journalism has seriously diminished¹⁷. Allegedly, the result of this would be the decline of civic involvement¹⁸ and the rise of political cynism¹⁹.

Before we proceed at discussing the effects of the „new political communication” upon citizens, we deem necessary to highlight the way commercialization is understood in the light of the abovementioned theories.

Thus, this phenomenon is considered a product of two different processes: first of all, under the pressures of market imperatives, the birth and development of private televisions, media instances have started to include in their programming an increasing number of entertainment shows²⁰. That is why various scholars have ascertained the emergence of journalistic genres tributary to popular culture like talk-shows, lifestyle magazine television and those pursuing private experiences, testimonials. In this context, authors like Adorno, Horkheimer²¹ and Mehl²² speak of a culture of commodification and emotions that would lead to a dissolution of the boundaries between the public and the private.

Secondly, different formats of political communication have started to borrow entertainment elements, generating what is called infotainment²³. As Van Santen has shown, this term has been interchangeably used with that of „tabloidization”²⁴. The dominant outlook over this trend is that topics such as fashion, sporting events and sensationalist facts dominate the media agenda, to the detriment of political issues. Furthermore, it is deemed that throughout electoral campaigns, political candidates have started to conform to this media logic, promoting their image in certain genres considered until recently non-political, such as talk-shows or in various informal contexts (shopping, playing the saxophone, dancing, etc.)²⁵. This process is referred as the depolitization of political communication²⁶.

One of the principles of this strand of literature is that modern press provides over-simplified information to the public regarding politics (the so called „dumbing-down” effect)²⁷, stressing rather on the visual component of political communication and generating what is currently called image-bite politics²⁸. In other words, the idea underlining this approach is that the political information we ordinarily receive is reduced to a fast collage of candidate’s pictures.

Moreover, media coverage of electoral campaigns is said to be increasingly focused on designating winners and losers, engendering a pretended horse-race coverage²⁹. Last but not least, by stressing on the personal lives of politicians and weighing against their political programs, mediated discourses embolden the personalization of politics³⁰. All these phenomena have been broadly ascribed to a trend of Americanization in political communication³¹. Consequently, the various transformations occurring in political journalism have been associated to terms such as „mediacracy”, „spectatorship” or „public relations democracy”³².

Thus, the view underlined by this perspective is the following: the mediated public sphere represents a space of journalistic problematization that should cultivate a rational outlook over political realities, in the detriment of an emotional or a playful one. Supposedly, it should also value a certain formalism in representing the political world, by stressing on its informational content, residing in punctual data about legislative measures and electoral platforms. Thus, one of the standards of political journalism is deemed as making citizens more interested and informed concerning politics. Otherwise, the possibility of fostering an authentic mediated public sphere is seen as questionable, and the only reflex it may generate among citizens is considered to be cynism or consumerism³³.

Obviously, this evaluation of the metamorphoses in political communication has been perceived by many academics as quasi-fatalist and sterile as regards to understanding these processes³⁴. First and foremost, due to the particularities of each media culture, one cannot speak of a common degree of commercialization of public spheres. From this perspective, in his study of the television programming during the electoral campaign in 1994, Brants concluded that the proportion between information-based shows and entertainment ones was somewhat balanced³⁵. Another finding of his research was that throughout the campaign, the candidates turned rather to informative genres such as newscast and current affairs, unlike the tendency described by other studies.

Hence, analyzing the changes occurring in political communication requires a more nuanced interpretation of the commercialization phenomenon, considering also the different cultural variables at play. From this reason, the various trends highlighted so far have been explored rather as research hypotheses in different intercultural studies³⁶.

As for the effects of this type of political journalism, various authors have expressed their disagreement about its’ negative influence on everyday political involvement³⁷. Drawing on the idea that the changes occurring in political communication also imply both a different way of engaging in the public life and of understanding participation itself; they argue for a definition of this concept based on citizens’ discursive activity, interest, attitudes and meaning-making processes, engendered by watching political shows.

Thus, through their symbiosis with elements of popular culture, genres containing entertainment elements are seen as having the potential to stimulate audiences’ interest, who otherwise would reject political information³⁸; to reduce the social distance between politicians and the electorate³⁹; inspirit citizen talk⁴⁰ and various reflections concerning politics⁴¹. Still, the strength of these effects varies from one public to another, according to different socio-demographic variables, media consumption patterns and political interests⁴².

Furthermore, by using a playful or even ironic or emotional approach, media discourses may provide their publics another opportunity to critically position themselves toward communicational contents⁴³ and may represent forms of resistance against dominant social ideologies⁴⁴.

From this perspective, the mediated public sphere is perceived as a cultural sphere⁴⁵, and represents „the articulation of politics, public and personal, as a contested terrain through affective (aesthetic and emotional) modes of communication⁴⁶”. Thence, it embeds popular culture’s and entertainment’s various forms of manifestation, that provide for a space of reflection both regarding the inner and outer world; allow for a certain sense of identification (like in the case of soap-opera characters and their public) and the dialogue with our surrounding ones.

Thus, the multiple transformations in political communication are understood and evaluated very distinctly in the established literature. Some views have signaled the existence of a pseudo-public sphere, of the political journalism that values emotions in the detriment of rational reflection, the „private” as opposed to the public and images instead of information. Others have highlighted the emergence of a cultural public sphere that celebrates particularly these elements, and whose manifestations contribute to the reconsolidation of the way in which we understand political participation and even politics nowadays. Consequently, the different tendencies of „aestheticization”⁴⁷ and „emotionalization”⁴⁸ in the public sphere may have distinct effects, that go beyond the classical interpretation paradigms of some concepts such as political knowledge.

3. Tabloidisation in the public sphere: drawing the conceptual framework

As highlighted in the previous part of this paper, the commercialization phenomenon has been associated with different processes and designations. Among these, the issue of tabloidization stands as one of the most prominent, due to its all-encompassing conceptual nature. Thus, this particular notion is often connected with all of the abovementioned transformations in political communication, such as depolitization, sensationalism, personalization, horse-race coverage or focus on popular culture elements⁴⁹. Hence, it has reached a certain conceptual ambiguity, consolidated also by its frequent association with broad terms such as „politics as entertainment”⁵⁰ and its interchangeable use with that of infotainment⁵¹. Nonetheless, some themes remain consistent, which will the subject of our personal understanding of the concept.

In the established literature, there seems to be a certain assent regarding the fact that tabloidization is a product of one or more of the following dimension: a negative reporting of politicians, meant to attract the public’s attention⁵²; a focus on sensationalist, entertainment-based discourses illustrating unusual events from the political world⁵³; a particular emphasis on candidates’ private lives or personal character, as opposed to public policies or electoral platforms⁵⁴. Furthermore, this type of focus on the private persona is also illustrated by the increasing use of visuals to the detriment of informational content⁵⁵.

Thus, tabloidization is deemed as the cause of trends such as negative coverage (or negativism), sensationalism and personalization (or individualization) in political communication. Furthermore, it is perceived as an expanding phenomenon, threatening the quality of political journalism, the integrity of public culture, political involvement and the health of democratic processes, generally⁵⁶. The pessimistic approach over this alleged orientation of mediated discourses raises a number of questions: Is the nature of these effects indisputable? Or, in other words, do they necessarily imply a decline of public participation and interest in political affairs?

Although throughout the literature the connotations of tabloidization remain mostly negative, some academics have argued for a more open-ended perspective over this concept. Instead of referring to the benefits of classical journalism, as a terrain of the authentic public sphere, different authors claim that, in fact, tabloid media may represent an alternative, subversive public sphere⁵⁷. The emphasis laid on private experiences could represent the proof of more „deeper cultural concerns”⁵⁸; their playful style of reporting and topics could be a form of challenging dominant ideologies⁵⁹ and a way to achieve „a greater imaginative proximity to the lifeworld of the audience”⁶⁰.

Whatever the angle we might chose to adopt in evaluating this phenomenon, its evaluation requires firstly that we investigate its degree of prominence in certain media contexts. Otherwise, we might be evaluating a binary, distorted picture of reality that is less grounded in our everyday media landscape. In other words: Is tabloidization a rising process, as presumed by some⁶¹? Like Esser⁶², we argue that any answer to this question will need to take into account the different cultural variables at play, such as the media culture within which journalistic discourses unfold and the organizational particularities of each media institution. Thus, one of the assumptions that will guide the forthcoming empirical undertaking is that each media landscape is marked by different degrees of tabloidization, if the presence of such a trend is observed.

So far, this phenomenon has been the subject of consistent research carried out in the United States⁶³, Western Europe⁶⁴, different studies in China⁶⁵ and The Third World⁶⁶. However, studies in commercialization and, particularly, tabloidization in Central and Eastern Europe remain to a certain extent scarce, being limited to a small number of studies⁶⁷. Particularly in the case of emerging democracies in East Central Europe, where private media institutions have developed later than those in the West, the patterns of what one might call „tabloidization” could be less prominent. This assumption is also justified by the views according to which, unlike the American media outlets, some European media institutions have shown a certain „resistance” to commercialization⁶⁸.

One of the peculiarities in the study of the tabloidization hypothesis is that it has mostly been explored by analyzing the tone and narratives of „quality”, televised journalism⁶⁹, and to a lesser extent the style of tabloids themselves⁷⁰. Thence, paradoxically, its implicit premises have somewhat been taken for granted in the case of „yellow journalism”. We contend that analyzing the degree of tabloidization in a certain media culture should also consider this aspect, as it would provide for richer, culturally valid interpretations of this concept. For example, tabloids in Bulgaria seem to focus on public issues, whereas the „quality” media are deemed as growing sources of personal, sensationalist narratives⁷¹. Hence, the idea of tabloidization may need different tinges and ways of designating it.

Having in mind also the hypothesis of commercialization resistance in Europe⁷² and the potential variability of tabloidization in the Eastern bloc, this research will pursue the following question: Is tabloid press nowadays strongly tabloidized? Answering this question requires that we underscore our empirical focus and personal interpretation of the phenomenon, which is what the next section will highlight.

4. Methodological benchmarks

As previously outlined, very little research has examined the tabloidization hypothesis in Eastern Europe. Particularly in the Romanian media landscape, where this question has become more prominent in the last years⁷³, only one study has approached this particular phenomenon⁷⁴. However, it considers only the style of televised, televised sports news. Thus, Romanian tabloids’ degree of tabloidization remains an unresearched topic.

The subject of this empirical demarche is represented by the coverage of the last Romanian presidential campaign, in 2009. This choice was founded not only by the postulate that electoral campaigns are increasingly tabloidized⁷⁵, but also by the fact that this particular political moment has been highly controversial. Thus, in this campaign the acts of violence between various groups of party members have held the news agenda for some time⁷⁶; verbal attacks of some political leaders have been often broadcasted; current president and candidate for the position, Traian Băsescu, has been accused of hitting a child during an electoral meeting; and the party supporting him became famous after using in their promoting strategy local oriental songs (“manele”) with a strongly negative reputation in the mainstream intelligentsia. Last but not least, Băsescu’s mother suffered a surgical intervention for breast cancer, and his daughter was said to soon announce her wedding⁷⁷.

Having this type of issues on the media agenda of the 2009 campaign, we expected that the local tabloids exploited some of them more than classical political topics (such as electoral programmes or current internal issues). Thus, one of the hypotheses of this research was that in these particular circumstances, the tabloids’ coverage of the 2009 campaign might have been the subject of a high degree of tabloidization. Before we proceed with outlining our personal understanding of the concept and how such an assumption could be tested, we will further detail the focus of this empirical study.

Because Traian Băsescu, as current president at that time, and both his party and family were frequently mentioned in the media discourses of the last campaign, their portrayal in the tabloid press will constitute the center of our research. By using the content analysis of references in online articles in the period starting from the pre-campaign to the elections; we tried to explore the extent to which the tabloids’ coverage of these actors was marked by negativism, personalization and sensationalism. A special emphasis was laid on how this particular candidate was illustrated in connection to his family, party members, campaign events and issues of the current government.

By searching for the key-words „Traian Băsescu” and „PD-L” (the supporting Democrat-Liberal party) in the archives of the three most visited online tabloids in 2009, we first tried to explore the main themes associated to this candidate. The identities of these papers and the reasons that lead to their choice will be further exposed below. Thus, in the period between October 1st (2 weeks before the official beginning of the electoral campaign) and December 5th (the end of the campaign), we identified 394 articles corresponding to our criteria.

Because the period of the electoral campaign was marked by a number of outstanding events; such as the economic crisis, the cut-backs in public functionaries’ wages, union strikes and political conflicts, they appeared in the coverage of Traian Băsescu, as current president.

Overall, the main themes associated to this candidate were excerpted inductively and designated as follows: deficits of the present government; the candidacy of Băsescu and campaign events carried out by his party; his family; the electoral debates; and the alleged aggression of a child. The first meaning cluster (“deficits of the present government”), represented a resulting category of 4 sub-themes, which were identified as: political conflicts or political crisis; strikes, public functionaries’ wage reduction or economical crisis; economical and political crisis; accusations of corruption. Thus, these themes were coded in SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and their prominence was assessed by means of frequency measurements and crosstabulations.

As the research understood tabloidization as a product of personalization, sensationalism and negativism, we tried to explore the degree to which each of these processes exist in the tabloids’ coverage of Traian Băsescu. Thus, our underlining hypotheses interpreted these concepts as follows:

RH1. If the references concerning Băsescu’s allegedly hitting of a child outnumber those concerning his campaign events, candidature or presidential position (deficits of the government), than the tabloids are a subject of a high degree of sensationalism.

Thus, the assessment of this hypothesis considered only the period in which this particular event occurred; and is based on the often-mentioned postulate according to which tabloid formats favor spectacular events to the detriment of public issues or the electoral process itself⁷⁸.

RH2. If the frequency of references concerning the candidate’s family is higher than that of the mentions regarding his image as a candidate (campaign events) or as the president (issues of the government), then we can speak of a high degree of personalization. The assumption is also confirmed if most of the articles contain pictures of the candidate.

The formulation of this premise envisaged the plea according to which campaigns in the age of tabloidization focus extensively on the personal lives of politicians and on the visuals portraying these individuals⁷⁹.

RH3. The presence of negativism in the tabloids’ coverage of Băsescu is confirmed if the overall tone of the most articles is unfavorable concerning: him as a candidate (candidacy and campaign events; in the televised debates); as the person potentially hitting the child; his family; his image as the current president (deficits of current government).

This hypothesis was built considering not only the alleged negative trend in the coverage of politicians⁸⁰, but also the fact that some members of this candidate’s family have a rather unfavorable image in the Romanian landscape. Thus, his youngest daughter was accused of unrightfully occupying a high a position in a local private company, earning an unusual high income for it⁸¹ and owing her political career to Traian Băsescu. Furthermore, the abovementioned inference took into consideration the fact that the political and social events happening before and throughout the campaign were most likely to be attributed to the president.

The sheets subject to our analysis were chosen according the highest ranked tabloids as number of visualizations in October and November, 2009⁸². Thus, Libertatea („Freedom”) occupied the first position, Cancan was the second most viewed and Click represented the third. However, as Click did not have a database of its previous articles, we proceeded to the next ranked tabloid as number of displays, Showbiz.ro. Because this sheet also did not own a personal archive of articles, we used the one provided by its host website and brand owner, Apropo.ro.

Naturally, because any media institution has a distinct broadcasting identity, underlining values and ownership, our methodological undertaking also acknowledged the particularities of each online tabloid. Thus, the aforesaid hypotheses were tested also on every one of these papers, in order to have a clearer view over our findings.

5.  Findings of the research

5.1. Sensationalism
In what concerns our first hypothesis, that of sensationalism understood as the tabloids’ focus on Băsescu’s alleged violence act, it proved to be false. The event started to be mentioned as of November 27th until December 5th and in this time range it had only 22 references of the total 66 related to this politician (SD=0.63). Consequently, its degree of coverage was lower than that of the candidate’s campaign events and presidential image, associated with various deficits of the government (fig.1).

Fig.1. Overall distribution of themes associated to Traian Băsescu, November 27^th-December 5^th

Fig.2. Distribution of references within each tabloid concerning Băsescu’s act of violence

Fig.3. Libertatea: distribution of themes associated to Traian Băsescu, November 27th-December 5th

Nonetheless, some of the campaign events themselves might have represented a source of sensationalism, since they illustrated the clashes between different party members, the oriental songs used for promoting Băsescu and the various attacks addressed to this candidate. Still, in the abovementioned time range, this category also included news referring to the opposition’s plans for the new government and the incumbent’s course of action if he lost the election. Thus, overall, the hypothesis according to which Băsescu’s coverage was marked by a high degree of sensationalism, turned to be incorrect. However, its evaluation requires that we also consider how each of the tabloids reported this event.

As figure 2 shows, the sheet that mentioned it most frequently was Libertatea, followed by Cancan and Apropo (x2(6, N = 66) = 1.386, p < .05). This particular sheet dedicated only 34,8% of its total references to Traian Băsescu in this time range concerning his alleged aggression of a child (N=46; SD=0.68). The majority of the articles focused on the campaign events, electoral debates, deficits of the current government and family members, as illustrated in figure 3.

As for the other two online sheets, Cancan dedicated to this subject 29.4% of its total references (N=17; SD=0.47) and Apropo, 33.4% (N=3; SD= 0.57). Both followed the overall theme distribution as Libertatea, but without mentioning any facts or opinions concerning Băsescu’s family.

Hence, our hypothesis regarding the presence of sensationalism in the tabloids’ coverage of this candidate was invalidated. Most of their references approached Traian Băsescu’s campaign events, and not his alleged act of violence. This trend was also confirmed in the case of each tabloid. Although the references concerning this potential aggression outnumbered those illustrating various deficits of the government (the economic crisis, the cut-backs in public functionaries’ wages, union strikes, political conflicts, accusations of corruption); we considered it a result of the long period in which these political and social events had been highly broadcasted. Thus, since their frequency had already diminished by the time this new controversial issue appeared, we did not consider this finding relevant to our analysis.

Fig.4. Overall distribution of references of Traian Băsescu, October 1^st – December 5^th

Fig.5. Libertatea: distribution of themes associated to Traian Băsescu, October 1^st – December 5^th

Fig.6. Cancan: distribution of themes associated to Traian Băsescu, October 1^st – December 5^th

Fig.7. Apropo: distribution of themes associated to Traian Băsescu, October 1^st – December 5^th

Fig. 8. Presence of images illustrating Traian Băsescu in each of the three tabloids

5.2. Personalization
The second assumption of our empirical research was that if the frequency of references concerning the candidate’s family is higher than that of the mentions regarding his image as a candidate (campaign events) or as the president (issues of the government); then one can speak of a high degree of personalization in the tabloid press.

By exploring the candidate’s associations with the categories specified in the methodological section of this paper, we found that overall, this hypothesis does not confirm. As shown below, the references about Băsescu’s family amounted less than those illustrating campaign events or deficits of the government (N=394). Because their proportion was very low in the overall coverage of the candidate (8%, N=394; SD=0.4), we considered that there was no particular emphasis on his private life. Moreover, no other remarks were made about him as an individual.

Still, we proceeded at assessing the validity of this presumption by analyzing how each of the tabloids portrayed this candidate. Thus, Libertatea, Cancan and Apropo have maintained the overall distribution described above, emphasizing on Băsescu’s campaign events (48%), and associations with the issues of the current government (31%) (N= 282). As illustrated in figures 1, 2 and 3, the references about his family remained scarce in the case of each tabloid: Libertatea, 6% (N=282; SD=0.5); Cancan, 2% (N=73; SD=0.39); Apropo, 4% (N=39; SD=0.16).

Although under the terms of our framework, the hypothesis of personalization was infirmed, this evaluation can be considered somewhat questionable from a particular angle. If we consider the higher number of references dedicated to Traian Băsescu’s family than that of his participation and performance in the televised debates, then this may represent itself a sign of personalization. Still, considering the low percentages of both of these themes and the reduced number of articles provided by Cancan (N=73) and Apropo (N=39), by comparison with Libertatea (N=282), reaching such a conclusion would need wider samples and further research.

Fig. 9. Overall distribution of positive, negative and neutral references of Băsescu

Another measure of personalization that we introduced into our analysis concerned the presence of this candidate’s pictures in most of the articles. As figure 8 illustrates, no such tendency was observed in all of the three tabloids (x2(2, N = 394) = 49.491, p < .05).

Apropo included in 43.6 % of its articles pictures illustrating Traian Băsescu (N=39; SD=0.5), followed by Libertatea, 32.3% (N=282; SD=0.46) and Cancan, 5.5% (N=73, SD= 0.22). Hence, since none of the tabloids seemed to have dedicated to pictures an essential part of their coverage, we considered that the personalization hypothesis was not confirmed in this regard either.

Still, our analysis did not consider the size of the pictures compared to that of texts, an element often associated with tabloidization (Franklin, 1997; 2008). Nonetheless, under the terms of this research, the personalization hypothesis does not stand; but would still require an evolutionary approach to see whether in the past Romanian tabloids have included fewer pictures in their articles.

5.3. Negativism (negative coverage)
The third main hypothesis of our empirical demarche concerned the presence of negativism in Traian Băsescu’s coverage. It was assessed by means of the overall evaluations provided by the three tabloids and specifically considering: him as a candidate (candidacy and campaign events; in the televised debates); as the person potentially hitting the child; his family; his image as the current president (deficits of current government).

Fig.10. Distribution of positive, negative and neutral references of Băsescu in each of the tabloids

Our analysis will outline first how the three tabloids presented him overall, and then will proceed at illustrating how they evaluated him in association with each of the abovementioned themes.

As figure 9 shows, throughout our period of analysis, it would seem that Băsescu was overall evaluated in a negative manner (50,6%), and to a lesser extent in a positive (19,3%) or neutral way (30,1%) (N=394). However, if we were to divide these categories into negative and non-negative (positive and neutral) references, our perspective over his evaluation would probably be different. Thus, we cannot claim that, overall, the assessments of this candidate have been clearly negative, unless we also explore in what period they occurred and which of the tabloids might have influenced this overall trend.

The main tabloids who have had negative references concerning this candidate are Libertatea (36,9%) and Apropo (18,5%) (x2 (6, N = 394) = 69.192, p < .05). As figure 10 shows, Libertatea was also the sheet that provided most of the positive and neutral evaluations of Traian Băsescu, due to its high number of articles compared to the other online tabloids.

Before the official beginning of the electoral campaign, the candidate was referred at mostly in a negative fashion (37.7%), and to a lesser extent in a positive (24.7 %) or neutral manner (20.1%) (N=154; SD=0.99). In this interval, from the sub-themes of what we called „deficits of the current government”, he mostly received negative references in relation to the theme of strikes, wage reduction or the economic crisis (13.6%); and to a lower degree with political conflicts (5.8%) and the idea of corruption (5.2%) (x2 (12, N = 154) = 75.043, p < .05) Thus, the candidate was framed as the president responsible for the economic crisis, which is probably why the references concerning his family were so scarce (5,23%; N=154; SD=0.51).

Fig. 11. Overall evaluation in connection with campaign events

Furthermore, in this time range, the candidate’s negative evaluations related to his family represented only 0,29% of all mentions, whilst the positive ones comprised 1%. We attributed this to the fact that the tabloid with the highest number of articles, Libertatea, emphasized on the illness of Băsescu’s mother in a compassionate manner.

In the electoral campaign period, the overall trend of presenting Băsescu was maintained, mostly negative (43.3%) and to a lesser extent positive (26.3%) or neutral (22,9%) (N=240; SD=0.87). From the category entitled „deficits of the current government”, the main topics he was associated negatively with during this time consist of corruption (6.3%) and strikes, wage reduction or the economic crisis (5.4%) (x2 (12, N = 240) = 28.932, p < .05) . We also found that there is a correlation between how Băsescu is evaluated and his association with the deficits of the current government (ρ=.255; ρ>0,01; N=394). Thus, the more a tabloid mentions this topic, the more this candidate receives negative references.

As for the way in which the current president was presented in connection with his family, no negative evaluations exist in the electoral campaign period. However, this tendency changes when it comes with how the candidate is illustrated in relation to his campaign events. As figure 11 shows, the negative references outnumber the positive and neutral ones (N=126). Also, we found that there is a significant, yet weak correlation between the way in which he is generally evaluated and his assessments, not only in the campaign period (ρ=.183; ρ>0,01; N=394).

Fig. 12. Types of references to the candidate in connection with the televised debates

When designing the categories of our analysis, we considered the televised debates a distinct moment of illustrating the candidates, which is why we did not include them in the category of the campaigning events. Within the articles dedicated to this subject, Băsescu received 52.6% negative evaluations, 26.3% neutral assessments and 21.1% positive references, as illustrated below (x2(6, N = 19) = 27.932, p < .05). From this perspective, his portrayal would not seem to have been marked by negativism. Still, we have to consider that if these negative references were added to those included in the campaign events category, the resulting image would differ. In this regard, a higher number of positive evaluations in connection to the televised debates would have provided for an overall balanced image of Băsescu as a candidate.

As for how the tabloids presented this candidate in relation to the issue of the alleged child agression, we found that, overall, Băsescu received mostly positive references (81,81%, N=22). They were found mostly in Libertatea’s coverage of the event (68,42%), followed by Cancan (26,31%) and Apropo (5,27%) (x2(9, N = 19) = 35.429, p < .05).

Hence, the hypothesis of negativism is only partially confirmed. While overall, Traian Băsescu was evaluated in a negative manner, this assessment varies within each of the subcategories we subjected to this analysis and, for some topics, in certain periods and tabloids. Thus, the tabloid with the highest number of negative references concerning this candidate was Libertatea, followed by Apropo and Cancan. Libertatea was also the sheet providing most of the mentions about Băsescu

Before the electoral campaign, Băsescu, as the current president, was referred at mostly in a negative manner, in relation to the government’ deficits and specifically the theme of strikes, wage reduction (or the economic crisis). Within this time range, the negative references associated to his family were outnumbered by the positive ones.

In the electoral campaign period, the overall trend of presenting Băsescu was preserved. Thus, he has been portrayed in a negative fashion, in connection to the subject of the economic crisis. This tendency was also maintained in what concerns his evaluation as a candidate: the references concerning his campaign events are mostly negative and those relating to the televised debates are equally negative and neutral. Although we might understand the latter as a sign of a balanced assessment, if we were to add the mentions from this category with those included in the campaign events category, we would obtain a rather negative image of this candidate.

As for the way in which the current president was presented in relation to his family, no negative evaluations exist in this period.

In connection to the issue of the alleged child aggression, we found that Băsescu received mostly positive references. They were found mostly in Libertatea’s coverage of the event, followed by Cancan and Apropo.

Thus, despite the fact that this candidate was mostly evaluated in a negative fashion, due to his association with the deficits of the current government and the negative assessments he received during the electoral campaign, our hypothesis does not fully stand. In relation to Băsescu’s family and his alleged aggression of a child, the tabloids have illustrated a positive outlook over the candidate.

While it is true that our research drew the gloomiest picture of what one might call „negativism”, it did so not only to prove the lack of consistency in some academic accounts of tabloidization, but also to highlight the specificity of Romanian tabloids. In the terms of our research hypothesis, it is safe to claim that tabloids’ coverage of the last presidential campaign was somewhat marked by negativism.

However, the reasons that lay behind this negative coverage might exceed the boundaries of its commercial rationale. Particularly in the case of the 2009 campaign, when the Romanian society was starting to manifest its deepest concerns about its social and political being in the context of the economic crisis, the tendency of evaluating the current president in negative terms is, to a certain extent, understandable. Furthermore, considering that Băsescu‘s appraisal throughout the electoral campaign was somewhat influenced by the different breaches of civility in the campaign itself (clashes between party members, inter-party verbal attacks, populist campaigning strategies); its negative tone is justifiable, to a certain extent.

6. Conclusions of the empirical analysis. Discussion

The first hypothesis of our investigation of the tabloidization phenomenon was that if the references concerning Băsescu’s allegedly aggression of a child outnumber those concerning his campaign events, candidature or presidential position (deficits of the government); than the tabloids are a subject of a high degree of sensationalism.

Because in the period when this topic appeared on the sheets’ agenda, its proportion was lower than all of the abovementioned categories, we considered that this hypothesis was not confirmed. Most of their references approached Traian Băsescu’s campaign events, and not his alleged act of violence. This trend was also confirmed in the case of each tabloid. Although the references concerning this potential aggression outnumbered those illustrating various deficits of the government (the economic crisis, the cut-backs in public functionaries’ wages, union strikes, political conflicts, accusations of corruption); we considered it a result of the long period in which these political and social events had been highly broadcasted. Thus, since their frequency had already diminished by the time this new controversial issue appeared, we did not consider this finding relevant to our analysis.

Still, our empirical undertaking did not explore deeper into how the campaign events themselves might have represented a source of sensationalism. Since they also included references concerning different political initiatives for the future, we considered that this category is not one to illustrate such a trait. Further research will need to outline if what we have denominated as „campaign events” (events happening in the course of the campaign that also include parties’ promoting actions) is a category increasingly influenced by different sensationalist facts.

The second assumption of our empirical research was that if the frequency of references concerning the candidate’s family is higher than that of the mentions regarding his image as a candidate (campaign events) or as the president (issues of the government); then one can speak of a high degree of personalization in the tabloid press. By exploring the candidate’s associations with the categories specified in the methodological section of this paper, we found that overall, this hypothesis does not confirm. The references about Băsescu’s family amounted less than those illustrating campaign events or deficits of the government. Thus, the tabloids have emphasized on Băsescu’s campaign events and associations with the current government’s deficits.

Another measure of personalization that we introduced into our analysis concerned the presence of this candidate’s pictures in most of the articles. Since none of the tabloids seemed to have dedicated to pictures an important part in their coverage, we considered that the personalization hypothesis was not confirmed in this regard either. Yet, fully validating such a hypothesis in the Romanian media landscape would require an evolutionary approach to see whether in the past Romanian tabloids have included fewer pictures in their articles.

Although under the terms of our framework, the hypothesis of personalization was infirmed, this evaluation can be considered somewhat questionable from a particular angle. If we consider the higher number of references dedicated to Traian Băsescu’s family than that of his participation and performance in the televised debates, then this may represent itself a sign of personalization. Still, considering the low percentages of both of these themes and the reduced number of articles provided by Cancan and Apropo, by comparison with Libertatea, reaching such a conclusion would need wider samples and further investigation.

In what regards the hypothesis of negativism, this was only partially confirmed. Despite the fact that this candidate was mostly evaluated in a negative fashion, due to his association with the current government’ deficits, specifically, the economic crisis, and the negative assessments he received during the electoral campaign, our hypothesis does not fully stand. In relation to Băsescu’s family and his alleged aggression of a child, the tabloids have illustrated a positive outlook over the candidate. For the time being, it is safe to claim that the tabloids’ coverage of the last presidential campaign was somewhat marked by negativism.

While it is true that our research drew an extreme picture of the negativism hypothesis, it did so not only to prove the lack of consistency in some academic accounts of tabloidization, but also to highlight the specificity of Romanian tabloids.

The reasons that lay behind this negative coverage might exceed the boundaries of its commercial rationale. Particularly in the case of the 2009 campaign, when the Romanian society was starting to manifest its deepest concerns about its social and political being in the context of the economic crisis, the tendency of evaluating the current president in negative terms is understandable. Furthermore, considering that Băsescu‘s appraisal throughout the electoral campaign was somewhat influenced by the different breaches of civility in the campaign itself (clashes between party members, inter-party verbal attacks, populist campaigning strategies); its negative tone is consistent, to a certain extent.

Hence, in the framework of our research design, we can say that the only mark of tabloidization in the Romanian tabloid media is that of negativism. Still, as we have shown, this trait may be considered somewhat justified by the contextual variables that defined the 2009 presidential campaign.

Perhaps a qualitative approach of the language and style used in the Romanian tabloids would make for a better instrument for assessing their degree of tabloidization. While coding the data, we noticed that some of the headlines have made use of various humorous forms (“They had some laughs in the [televised] confrontation!”⁸³; „The partnership for Timişoara was signed, but the people from Timişoara have not resigned [to it]⁸⁴”). Thus, they might represent a sign of what Fiske called „ideological resistance”⁸⁵. Nonetheless, future research in the Romanian tabloid media should explore this assumption.

The findings of our research seem to point that there is a certain degree of similarity between the Romanian and the Bulgarian tabloids, as illustrated in the Media Sustainability Index⁸⁶. As shown in the course of our analyses, the three sheets have dedicated an important place to the issues of the current government and have also mentioned the parties’ plans for the future mandate. Thus, in the analysis of transformations in political communication, it would be interesting to see whether there is a specific, Eastern European type of tabloidization; that implies an inverse polarization between what is commonly understood as the style of tabloids and that of the so-called „quality press”.

So what are the implications of this research for the Romanian public sphere? As we have seen, in the terms proposed by our framework, the three tabloids have neither been affected by sensationalism or personalization. Their negative coverage on some issues can be understood as a healthy democratic attitude toward the troubles of the Romanian society and how they are dealt with by the national authorities. Because usually internal issues are attributed to the president, although his prerogatives are reduced, we considered the tabloids’ tendency to ascribe them to Băsescu as natural. Furthermore, this might also be the result of his previous campaigning actions, which have conveyed the idea of the omnipotent president.

For the time being, it is difficult to say whether these tabloids might have coagulated in an alternative public sphere. An investigation of the mainstream „quality” press would be needed in this regard and so would a further exploring into the language and style of the tabloids.

The similarities observed between Romania and Bulgaria in what concerns the approach of political issues in tabloids raise a number of questions: Are there other common patterns in the East European mediated public spheres? Or is there an Eastern European public sphere? If so, what are issues it is confronted with?

Bibliography
Adorno, Theodor, Horkheimer Max, „The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception”, in Simon During (editor), The Cultural Studies Reader , London, Routledge, 1993.
Asp, Kent, Esaiasson, Peter, „The Modernization of Swedish Campaigns: Individualization, Professionalization, and Medialization”, in David L. Swanson, Paolo Mancini (editors) Politics, Media, and Modern Democracy. An International Study of Innovations in Electoral Campaigning and Their Consequences , Westport, Connecticut, Praeger, 1996.
Aszalos, Cristian, Crampoanele României şchioape. Tabloidizarea presei sportive româneşti (The crampons of limping Romania. The tabloidization of the Romanian sport press) ,Cluj-Napoca, Eikon, 2011.
Barnett, Steven, „Dumbing Down or Reaching Out : Is it Tabloidisation wot done it ?”, The Political Quarterly 69(1998).
Baum, Matthew A., „Sex, lies, and war: How soft news brings foreign policy to the inattentive public”, American Political Science Review, 96/ 1(2002).
Beciu, Camelia, Comunicare şi discurs mediatic. O lectură sociologică (Communication and media discourse. A sociological reading) , Bucharest, Comunicare.ro, 2009.
Beciu, Camelia, Sociologia comunicării şi a spaţiului public (The sociology of communication and of the public space) , Iaşi, Polirom, 2011.
Bird, S. Elizabeth, „News We Can Use : An Audience Perspective On The Tabloidisation of News in the United States”, The Public 5/3 (1998).
Blumler, Jay, Gurevitch, Michael, The Crisis of Public Communication, London, Routledge, 1995).
Blumler, Jay, Kavanaugh, Dennis, „The Third Age of Political Communication: Influences and Features”, Political Communication 16 (1999).
Bourdieu, Pierre, On television, translated by Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson, New York, The New Press, 1996.
Brants, Kees,“Who’s Afraid of Infotainment?” European Journal of Communication 13/ 3(1998).
Burnes, Susan, „Metaphors in press reports of elections: Obama walked on water, but Musharraf was beaten by a knockout” , Journal of Pragmatics 43/8 (2011).
Cappella, Joseph N., Jamieson, Kathleen Hall, Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good , New York, Oxford University Press, 1997.
Caspi, Dan, „American-Style Electioneering in Israel: Americanization versus Modernization”, in David L. Swanson, Paolo Mancini (editors) Politics, Media, and Modern Democracy. An International Study of Innovations in Electoral Campaigning and Their Consequences (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger,
Dahlgren, Peter, Television and the Public Sphere. Citizenship, Democracy and the Media (London: Sage Publications, 1995).
De Beus, Jos, „Audience Democracy: An Emerging Pattern in Postmodern Political Communication”, in Kees Brants, Katrin Voltmer (editors) Political Communication in Postmodern Democracy. Challenging the Primacy of Politics (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).
Delli Carpini, Michael X.; Williams, Bruce A.,“Let us infotain you: Politics in the new media environment”, in W. Lance Bennett, Robert M. Entman (editors), Mediated Politics. Communication in the future of democracy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001).
Eisenlohr, Patrick, „Religious Media, Devotional Islam, and the Morality of Ethnic Pluralism in Mauritius“, World Development 39/2 (2010).
Esser, Frank, „Tabloidization’ of News : A Comparative Analysis of Anglo-American and German Press Journalism”, European Journal of Communication 14/ 3 (1999).
Ferré-Pavia, Carme, Gayà-Morlà, Catalina, „Infotainment and citizens ’ political perception : Who’ s afraid of «Polònia»”? Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies, 3/1(2011).
Fiske, John, Television Culture (London and New York: Routledge, 1987).
Fiske, John,“Popularity and the Politics of Information”, in Peter Dahlgren, Collin Sparks (editors) Journalism and Popular Culture (Newbury Park: Sage, 1992).
Franklin, Bob, „Newszak: entertainment versus news and information”, in Anita Biressi & Heather Nunn (editors) The Tabloid Culture Reader (New York: McGraw Hill Open University Press, 2008).
Franklin, Bob, Newszak and Newsmedia. (London: Arnold, 1997).
Gitlin, Todd,“Bites and blips : chunk news , savvy talk and the bifurcation of American politics”, in Peter Dahlgren, Collin Sparks (editors), Communication and Citizenship: Journalism and the Public Sphere in the New Media Age , London, Routledge, 1991.
Głowacki, Michał, Dobek-Ostrowska, Bogusława, Comparing Media Systems in Central Europe (Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 2008).
Glynn, Kevin, „Tabloid Television’s Transgressive Aesthetic: A Current Affair and the «Shows that Taste Forgot»”, Wide Angle 12/2 (1990).
Habermas, Jürgen, The structural transformation of the public sphere. An inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society , translated by Thomas Burger in collaboration with Frederick Lawrence (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1962/ 1989), 27.
Hallin, Daniel C., „Sound bite news: Television coverage of elections, 1968–1988”, Journal of Communication, 42/ 2 (1992).
Hart, Roderick P., Seducing America: How Television Charms the Modern Voter, New York, Oxford University Press, 1994.
Hartley, John, Green, Joshua, „The public sphere on the beach”, European Journal of Cultural Studies, 9/3 (2006).
Himmelstrand, Ulf, „A Theoretical and Empirical Approach to Depoliticization and Political Involvement”, Acta Sociologica. Approaches to the Study of Political Participation, 6(1962).
Holly, Werner, „Tabloidisation of political communication in the public sphere”, in Ruth Wodak,Veronika Koller, (editors) Handbook of Communication in the Public Sphere (Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2008).
Holtz-Bacha, Christina, „Professionalization of Political Communication”, Journal of Political Marketing 1/4 (2002).
Jakubowicz, Karol, „Television and Elections in Post-1989 Poland: How Powerful Is the Medium?”, in David L. Swanson, Paolo Mancini (editors) Politics, Media, and Modern Democracy. An International Study of Innovations in Electoral Campaigning and Their Consequences (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger,
Jamieson, Kathleen Hall, Birdsell, David S., Presidential debates. The challenge of creating an informed electorate , New York, Oxford University Press, 1988.
Johansson, Sofia, „«They Just Make Sense»: Tabloid Newspapers as an Alternative Public Sphere”, in Richard Butsch, (editor) Media and Public Spheres, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Jones, Jeffrey P., Entertaining politics: new political television and popular culture, Maryland , Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2005).
Klein, Ulrike,“Tablodised political coverage in Bild-Zeitung”, The Public 5/3 (1998).
Langer, John, Tabloid television: popular journalism and the ‘other news’ , London & New York, Routledge, 1998.
Lee, Chin-Chuan, Chinese Media,Global Contexts , London, Routledge, 2003.
Livingstone, Sonia, Lunt, Peter, Talk on television. Audience Participation and Public Debate ,New York, Routledge, 1994/2001.
Lunt, Peter, Pantti, Mervi, „Popular Culture and the Public Sphere: Currents of Feeling and Social Control in Talk Shows and Reality TV”, in Richard Butsch (editor) Media and Public Spheres New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
Manning, Paul, News and News Sources: A Critical Introduction, London, Sage, 2001.
Mazzoleni, Gianpietro, Schulz, Winfried, „«Mediatization» of Politics: A Challenge for Democracy”? Political Communication 16/ 3 (1999).
McGuigan, Jim, „The Cultural Public Sphere”, European Journal of Cultural Studies 8/4 (2005).
McKee, Allan, The Public Sphere: An Introduction (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005)
McNair, Brian, Journalism and Democracy: An Evaluation of the Political Public Sphere , London, Routledge, 2000.
Mehl, Dominique, „The television of intimacy. Meeting a social need”, Réseaux. The French journal of communication 4/ 1(1996).
Negrine, Ralph, Papathanassopoulos, Stylianos, „The «Americanization» of Political Communication: A Critique”, The International Journal of Press/ Politics, 1/2 (1996).
Nörnebring, Henrik, Jönsson, Anna Maria, „Tabloid Journalism and the Public Sphere: a historical perspective on tabloid journalism”, Journalism Studies 5/3 (2004).
Postman, Neil, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Showbusiness , New York, Penguin, 1986.
Putnam, Robert, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community , New York, Simon & Schuster, 1995.
Roberts, John Michael, „Introducing Competence and the Public Sphere”, in The Competent Public Sphere , New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Robinson, Michael J.,“Public affairs television and the growth of political malaise: The case of «The selling of the pentagon»”, The American Political Science Review, 70/2 (1976).
Rooney, Dick, „Dynamics of the British tabloid press”, The Public 5/3 (1998).
Scammel, Margaret,“The wisdom of the war room: US campaigning and Americanization”, Media, Culture and Society, 20 (1998).
Schiff, Frederick, „The Dominant Ideology and Brazilian Tabloids: News Content in Class-Targeted Newspapers”, Sociological Perspectives 39/1 (1996).
Sparks, Collin, „Popular Journalism: Theories and Practice”, in Peter Dahlgren, Collin Sparks (editors) Journalism and Popular Culture, London, Sage, 1992.
Sparks, Collin, Tulloch, John, Tabloid tales: Global debates over media standards, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000.
Stamper, Judith, Brants, Kees, „A Changing Culture of Political Television Journalism”, in Kees Brants, Katrin Voltmer (editors) Political Communication in Postmodern Democracy. Challenging the Primacy of Politics , New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
Street, John, „The Transformation of Political Modernity?”, in Barrie Axford, Richard Huggins (editors) New Media and Politics , London, Sage Publications, 2001.
Street, John, „«Prime time politics»: Popular culture and politicians in the UK”, The Public 7/2 (2000).
Street, John, Inthorn, Sanna, Scott, Martin, „Playing at Politics? Popular Culture as Political Engagement”, Parliamentary Affairs 65 (2012).
Strömbäck, Jesper, „Four Phases of Mediatization: An Analysis of the Mediatization of Politics”, International Journal of Press/Politics 13/3 (2008).
Swanson, David L., Mancini, Paolo (editors) Politics, Media, and Modern Democracy. An International Study of Innovations in Electoral Campaigning and Their Consequences, Westport, Connecticut, Praeger, 1996.
Temple, Mick,“Dumbing Down is Good for You”, British Politics 1(2006)

NOTE

FLORINA CREŢU – PhD candidate, National School of Political and Administrative Science.

 sus