1. avd@sam.sdu.dk
Suspicious minds
Explaining political cynicism among parliamentary journalists in Europe
Arjen van Dalen
Erik Albæk and Claes de Vreese

2. avd@sam.sdu.dk
Van Dalen, Arjen, Albæk, Erik and De Vreese, Claes (2011). Suspicious
minds: Explaining political cynicism among political journalists in Europe.
European Journal of Communication 26(2): 147-62.

3. Rational
Spiral of cynicism
 Overemphasis on scandals
 Cynical reporting styles
 Hyperadversarialism
Political cynicism among parliamentary reporters
 Antecedent of the spiral of cynicism? (Brants ea, 2010)
 A comparative perspective
 Explanations

4. Politicians and parliamentary journalists
Ambiguous role relations
 ”Micro cosmos”
 Mutual dependence
 Symbiosis and adaptation
Mistrust and cynicism
 Political pressure
 Source professionalization

5. A comparative perspective
Denmark and Germany
 Decline of party press
 Professionalization mediated by corporatist tradition
United Kingdom
 Professionalization of news management
Spain
 Political paralellism
 Professionalization of news management

6. Explaining political cynicism among
parliamentary journalists
H1: More cynical when under political pressure
H2: More cynical when confronted with spin doctors and spokespersons
H3: More cynical when politicians are driven by media salacity

7. Method: survey among parliamentary journalists
Denmark Germany United
Kingdom
Spain
Target
population
Presseloge, Bundespresse
konferenz
Press Gallery,
Register of
Journalists’
Interests
Asociación de
Periodistas
Parlamentario
s,
Response 71
(74%)
201
(32%)
87
(31%)
66
(57%)
Non-
response
analysis
gender and
type of
medium:
all
representative
gender, type
of medium,
regional vs
national
media,
commercial vs
public
broadcasting:
all
gender, type
of medium,
membership
lobby and
press gallery:
all
representative
gender and
medium type:
gender
representative
, print
journalists
overrepresent
ed,

8.  Denmark 2.85a (.56)
 United Kingdom3.16b (.57)
 Germany 3.28b (.66)
 Spain 3.62c (.67)
(Mean scores with standard deviations between brackets)
Different subscripts differ at p<0.05 (ANOVA tests).
Political cynicism (5 point scale)

9. Explaining political cynicism in Germany
(Unstandardized Beta coefficients with standard error between brackets)
Political pressure .039 (.021)
Spokesperson inhibit journalists .119 (.041)**
Politician’s media salacity .297 (.056)***
(+controls)
N= 201, adj R² .23
* p<.05, ** p<.01, *** p<.001

10. Explaining political cynicism in four
European countries
(Unstandardized Beta coefficients with standard error between brackets)
Country (baseline = United Kingdom)
Spain -.178 (.105)
Germany .020 (.073)
Denmark -.337 (.092)***
Political pressure .044 (.013)***
Spokesperson inhibit journalists .100 (.026)***
Politician’s media salacity .294 (.036)***
(+controls)
Adjusted R² = .31, N = 425
***p<.001 **P<.01, *p<.05.

11. Discussion
 Professional rather than cynical perceptions
 Spanish cynicism versus Anglo-American hyperadversarialism
 Influence on content?