Deliberative performance of television news in three types of democracy: Insights from the United States, Germany, and Russia

DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12115
URL:	http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcom.12...
Document Type:	Article
Year of publication:	2014
The title of a journal, publication series:	Journal of Communication
Volume:	64
Issue number:	5
Page range:	827-851
Place of publication:	Oxford [u.a.]
Publishing house:	Blackwell Publ.
ISSN:	0021-9916 , 1460-2466
Publication language:	English
Institution:	Außerfakultäre Einrichtungen > Mannheim Centre for European Social Research - Research Department B School of Humanities > Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (Wessler 2007-)
Subject:	320 Political science
Abstract:	We show that television news is considerably more deliberative in established (United States, Germany) than in defective democracies (Russia) and slightly more deliberative in a power-sharing political system(Germany) than in a power-concentrating system(United States). We further demonstrate that public-service channels, nonpartisan programs, and in-depth news shows make stronger overall contributions toward deliberativeness than their respective counterparts.While national news cultures produce distinct national styles of mediated deliberation, individual channels in the United States (Fox, CNN) and Russia (REN) cut across these national patterns. The significance of deliberative media content for citizens and political elites is discussed.