Rediscovering Europe in the Netherlands - St Antony's College ...

news media
6 news media
6.1 introduction
Free and open communication on political and social issues is a precondition
for the creation of a ‘public space’ (Habermas 1990). Both traditional
and contemporary media are important when it comes to communicating
with the public in modern democracies. Ideally their communicative function
is threefold: to offer foras for public opinion formation and consultation;
to mobilise public and political participation; and to be a ‘watchdog’
vis-à-vis the political powers (Habermas 1990; Norris 2000). Necessary
elements therefore include the provision of (impartial) information, clarifying
different views, critically monitoring political and social trends and
influencing the political and social agenda (Kleinnijenhuis, Oegema and
De Ridder 1995; Gurevitch and Blumler 1990; wrr 2005). Since the emergence
of commercial broadcasting (which took place relatively late in the
Netherlands), both the traditional public broadcasters and their more
commercial counterparts help define the media landscape. However, the
written press still has a special position in this respect (De Vreese 2007: 17).
The media are thus important intermediaries in the triangular relationship
between politicians and citizens, and as such are indispensable links in the
democratic process (Risse and Van der Steeg 2003).
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However, as a result of broad socio-political trends such as functional
differentiation, individualisation and the rise of the Information Society,
the relationship between the media, politics and administration and the
public has dramatically changed (chapters 2 and 3). In addition, Dutch society
has been ‘depillarised’ (which means that the denominational segregation
into vertical ‘segments’ or ‘pillars’ each with their own specific political
and religious loyalties has come to an end) and the ‘floating voter’ has
also emerged in the Netherlands as an important political factor. This has
resulted in politicians becoming more focused on publicity and on managing
their public image through the media. More recently, however, they too
have become increasingly inclined to using new media (Internet) in order
to be less dependent on the traditional news media. In spite of this,
however, the use of old and new media are still strongly correlated (wrr
2005). Media services are in turn increasingly driven by market forces.
Journalists have to devote more time and energy to obtaining (political)
scoops and to fast, accessible reporting to reach a wider public than before
(wrr 2005; rob 2003). This has made politicians and the media increasingly
interdependent. eu policy, which has in any case always had to fight
for the attention of politicians and the media, suffers even more from the