Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Metacoverage is understood as a plausible reaction of professional journalists to the changed reporting conditions in modern media wars. It is defined as news stories about the roles of the news media (including media actors, media practices, media standards, media products, and media organizations) and the roles of the military publicity process (including PR actors, practices, strategies, products and organizations of political public relations and military news management) in mediated conflicts or campaigns. This study shows that journalists use four different frames to describe the role of the news media and of military news management; these frames are called Conduit, Strategy, Personalization, and Accountability. A content analysis of five leading German newspapers revealed a marked increase in metacoverage from the first Iraq war in 1991 to the second in 2003. Journalists tended to write themselves into the story more often and portrayed the news media involvement in increasingly more active terms. Consequences for political communication research are discussed.