TY - JOUR

T1 - Promoted media coverage of court decisions

T2 - Media gatekeeping of court press releases and the role of news values

AU - Meyer, Philipp

N1 - Funding Information: The research for this study was conducted while I was a PhD student at the Leibniz University Hannover, Germany. I would like to thank Christoph H?nnige, Philipp K?ker, Benjamin Engst, Dominic Nyhuis, and Katrin Aschmann as well as the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments, suggestions and discussions.

PY - 2021/4/3

Y1 - 2021/4/3

N2 - The present study focuses on the effect of court press releases on media gatekeeping, a field that has remained largely uninvestigated to date. Using original data on the German Federal Constitutional Court, the study analyzes when court press releases are reported on in the media. Certain news values (e.g., conflict, political power, continuity/familiarity) are assumed to increase the probability that a press release will be reported on in the news. By using an automated content analysis approach, this study assesses whether 584 press releases were reported on in German newspapers over a period of eight years (2010–2018). Only press releases that promote decisions are used as they are the official information subsidies that the Court disseminates to the public through the media. Findings indicate that only 18% of press releases are reported on in the news. Furthermore, the news values of conflict and political power are found to have no influence on the success of a press release, while press releases that promote decisions with an oral hearing are more likely to be picked up by journalists. Hence, issues that are familiar to the public are more likely to be covered.

AB - The present study focuses on the effect of court press releases on media gatekeeping, a field that has remained largely uninvestigated to date. Using original data on the German Federal Constitutional Court, the study analyzes when court press releases are reported on in the media. Certain news values (e.g., conflict, political power, continuity/familiarity) are assumed to increase the probability that a press release will be reported on in the news. By using an automated content analysis approach, this study assesses whether 584 press releases were reported on in German newspapers over a period of eight years (2010–2018). Only press releases that promote decisions are used as they are the official information subsidies that the Court disseminates to the public through the media. Findings indicate that only 18% of press releases are reported on in the news. Furthermore, the news values of conflict and political power are found to have no influence on the success of a press release, while press releases that promote decisions with an oral hearing are more likely to be picked up by journalists. Hence, issues that are familiar to the public are more likely to be covered.

KW - court communication

KW - court reporting

KW - press releases

KW - open justice

KW - news values

KW - computational text analysis

KW - Court communication

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105493663&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/1461670x.2020.1819861

DO - 10.1080/1461670x.2020.1819861

M3 - Article

VL - 22

SP - 723

EP - 740

JO - Journalism Studies

JF - Journalism Studies

SN - 1461-670X

IS - 6

ER -