Media analysis: Romania Radu Megelea Romanian Institute for European-Asian Relations
week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week 5 week 6 week 7 week 8 week 9 week 10 week 11 week 12 week 13 Adevarul quality newspaper Volume of news 101/133 (75,93%) 7,76 pieces of news/week Distribution of the foci of domesticity 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 33 36 26 15 6 Asia Local Regional 3rd 3rd USA Distribution of sources Distribution of degree of centrality foreign correspondent 2% 8% 3% 2% 87% 5% 82% foreign newspapers no source 10% Main Secondary Minor local correspondent 88% local, based on foreign newswire
Distribution of the locus of evaluation Economy 3% 19% 5% 2% 71% Negative Neutral, Negative Neutral Neutral, Positive Positive 3% 33% 17% 3% 7% 7% 13% 17% Agriculture Business Energy Finance Infrastr. Industry Regional Int. State of econ. Framing Overall framing Environment Internal 2 articles 1.98% 35% 35% Economy Environment Politics Politics 14% Social Affairs Internal 28% 2% External 86%
Social Affairs Culture 36% 3% 11% 6% 11% 8% 19% Demographics Education Entertainment Healthcare Lifestyle Migration Natural disaster Sports Conceptual Metaphors Few metaphors present, of little statistical significance ; among the ones present, most are have a positive significance; the writer uses mataphors most of the time in an admirative fashion regarding the Asian people. Asia (especially the Asian economy and culture) appears to be a mighty, unstoppable force: ( the Asian kitchen has conquered us, Asian products have invaded the IT&C market ; when referring to a football game won by the japanese against Argentina, they are said to have triumphed thanks to the aggressivity and zeal specific of the Asian people ; Asia comes from behind lika a typhoon 3% 3%
week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week 5 week 6 week 7 week 8 week 9 week 10 week 11 week 12 week 13 Libertatea 6 5 Volume of news 23/133 (17.29%) 12 Distribution of the foci of domesticity 11 4 10 3 8 2 1 0 6 4 2 5 2 5 2 0 Asia Local Regional 3rd 3rd USA Distribution of sources Distribution of degree of centrality No sources 22% 78% 69% Local 9% Secondary 9% Local, based foreign newswire 91% Minor
Distribution of the locus of evaluation Economy 0% 0% 0% 4% 9% 13% 4% Negative Agriculture Business Neutral, Negative Energy 70% Neutral Neutral, Positive Positive 50% 0% 50% 0% Finance Infrastr. Industry Regional Int. State of econ. Framing Overall framing Environment Internal 2 articles 1.98% 9% 13% Economy Environment Politics 65% 13% Politics Social Affairs External 100%
Social Affairs 0% 0% Culture 7% 20% 40% Demographics Education Entertainment Healthcare 7% Lifestyle 13% 13% Migration Natural disaster Sports
week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week 5 week 6 week 7 week 8 week 9 week 10 week 11 week 12 week 13 TVR 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Volume of news 9/133 (6.76%) The spikes are corellated with events such as the ASEM summit, the Megi typhoon, or Obama s visit to Asia Distribution of the foci of domesticity 7 6 6 5 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 0 Asia Local Regional 3rd Distribution of sources Distribution of degree of centrality 89% 11% local correspondent no source 78% 11% 11% Main Secondary Minor
Distribution of the locus of evaluation Economy 0% 0% 0% 11% Negative Agriculture Business Neutral, Negative Energy 89% Neutral Neutral, Positive Positive 100% Finance Infrastr. Industry Regional Int. State of econ. Framing Overall framing Politics 33% 11% Economy Politics 56% Social Affairs External 100%
Social Affairs 33% 34% Entertainment Migration Natural disaster 33%
Frames: Politics Volumeof news: 36/133 (27.06%) Sources: Adevarul Libertatea TVR 28 3 5 Foreign Correspondents 5 31 Local Correspondents Focus of Domesticity Asia Local Regional 3rd 8 11 4 16 Degree of centrality Main Secondary Minor 1 4 31 Evaluation Negative Neutral, negative Neutral Neutral, positive Positive 3 0 30 1 2 Most frequent actors: USA, China, Romania, Germany,, Japan, India Main subframe: External Politics
Frames: Economy Volumeof news: 54/133 (40.6%) Sources: Foreign Local Correspondents 8 41 5 Unknown source Adevarul Libertatea TVR 35 2 1 Focus of Domesticity Asia Local Regional 3rd 11 9 11 9 Degree of centrality Main Secondary Minor 2 3 35 Evaluation Negative Neutral, negative Neutral Neutral, positive Positive 1 2 23 1 11 Most frequent actors: China, Japan, India, South Korea, Romania, Germany, Russia, USA Most frequent subframe: State of Economy
Frames: Environment Volume: 5/133 (3.75%) Sources: Local Correspondents 5 Adevarul Libertatea TVR 2 3 0 Focus of Domesticity Asia Local Regional 3rd 2 2 0 1 Focus of Centrality: Minor 5 Evaluation Negative Neutral, negative Neutral Neutral, positive Positive 1 0 4 0 0 Most frequent actors: Ecologists Most frequent subframe: Internal
Frames: Social Affairs Volume: 38/133 (27.81%) Sources: No source 2 36 Local Correspondents Adevarul Libertatea TVR 35 2 1 Focus of Domesticity Asia Local Regional 3rd 12 15 4 7 Focus of centrality Main Secondary Minor 0 6 32 Evaluation Negative Neutral, negative Neutral Neutral, positive Positive 3 1 24 2 8 Most frequent actors: Football players., Germany, France, Romania Most frequent subframe: Sports and Entertainment
Conclusions and observations Total of 133 pieces of news, with the majority (75%) of articles originating in Adevarul, followed by Libertatea (17%) and TVR News (7%). The articles were spreadi over a broad range of subjects, some completely unrelated to the idea of Asia/Asian actors. Most of the articles have been written by local correspondents, with only minor percentages written by foreign correspondents. There have been instances of articles being translated from foreign newspapers. Foreign newswires are credited as sources only in a few cases, although the lack of foreign correspondents would indicate reliance on external sources of information. The distribution of the foci of domesticity shows differences between the outlets: in the newspapers the local category was the most frequent, followed by Asia. In the tv news, Asia was the most frequent, followed by regional. There have been significant differences between the framing categories of different outlets: while Adevarul treated Economy, Politics and Social Affairs almost equally, Libertatea focused mainly on Social Affairs, and the TVR News on Politics. The differences might stem from the different concepts of each of the outlets:informative vs. entertaining, more serious vs. easily readable etc. The keywords have been evaluated as neutral in the majority (>70%) of the articles, regardless of the newssource Adevarul leaned in the direction of a positive evaluation of Asia (22% positive vs. 7% negative). The other newssources showed no statistical significant differences between the number of positive and negative evaluations. Most of the mentionings have been minor (a trend that was present regardless of the medium 88% in Adevarul, 91% in Libertatea, and 78% in the TVR1 TV news), often consisting of a single key word in the whole article. The most frequently mentioned country was by far China. There have also been frequent mentions of Japan,India and South Korea. Mentionings of the Asian regional organisations have been scarce in the dataset, usually in the context of the ongoing summits. The ASEM Summit was mentioned as the Asia-Europe Summit 7 times, but ASEM itself is mentioned as an entity only twice. Of the 7 articles, only 2 are focused on the event itself, the others discussing the demise of the presidents mother while he was away at the summit. APEC mentioned 3 times, related to the summit in November ASEAN is mentioned once The results should not necesarrily be interpreted as a lack of interest of the media regarding Asian countries. Individual countries have been mentioned much more frequently (e.g.: in the case of China, terms such as China, Chinese etc. have been often mentioned more than 5 times per day compared to the average of 1,5 times/day for Asia/Asian. Asian institutions of higher education have also been presented or advertised frequently.
Adevarul Distribution of sources Local corresponde nt Foreign corresponde nt Distribution of the foci of domesticity Distribution of degree of centrality From foreign newspapers 88 2 3 8 No source 87.12% 1.98% 2,97% 7.92% Asia Local Regional 3 rd Double entries 33 36 15 26 World; 6 USA 32.67% 35.64% 14.85% 25.74%; 5.94% Main Secondary Minor 2 10 89 15 14.85% Attachments Framing (a)overall framing Economy Environment Politics Social affairs 35 2 28 36 34,65% 1.98% 27.72% 35.64% (b)detailed framing Economy Agri cult ure Environment Busi ness Ener gy Fina nce Infra stru ctur e Indu stry Reg. Inte grati on 1 2 4 5 2 5 1 10 0.99 % 1.98 % 3.96 % 4.95 % 1.98 % 4.95 % 0.99 % Stat e of econ omy 9.9% 1.98% 9.90% 88.11% Internal External Distribution of the locus of evaluation Negative Neutral, Negative Neutral Neutral, positive 5 2 72 3 19 Positive 4.95% 1.98% 71.28% 2.97% 18.81% 2 0 1.98% 0% Politics Internal External 4 24 3.96% 23.76%
Social affairs Culture Demogr aphics Educati on Enterta inment Healthc are Lifestyl e Migrati on Natural disaster 2 4 3 7 1 4 1 1 13 Sports 1.98% 3.96% 29.7% 6.93% 0.99% 3.96% 0.99% 0.99% 12.87%
Libertatea Distribution of sources Local correspondent Local based on foreign newswire 16 2 5 Distribution of the foci of domesticity Distribution of degree of centrality No source 69.56% 8.69% 21.73% Asia Local Regional 3 rd Double entries 5 11 2 5 World, 2 USA 21.73% 47.82% 8.69% 21.73%, 8.69% Main Secondary Minor 2 8.69% Framing Economy Environment Politics Social affairs 2 3 3 15 8.69% 13.04% 13.04% 65.21% Economy Agri cult ure Busi ness Ener gy Fina nce Infra stru ctur e Indu stry Reg. Inte grati on 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0% 0% 0% 4.34 % Environment Stat e of econ omy 0% 0% 0% 4.34 % 0 2 21 Internal External 0% 8.69% 86.95% Distribution of the locus of evaluation Negative Neutral, Negative Neutral Neutral, positive 3 1 16 1 2 Positive 13.04% 4.34% 69.56% 4.34% 8.69% 3 0 13.04% 0% Politics Internal External 0 3 0 13.04%
Social Affairs Culture Demogr aphics Educati on Enterta inment Healthc are Lifestyl e Migrati on Natural disaster 0 0 0 6 2 2 1 1 3 Sports 0% 0% 0% 26.08% 8.69% 8.69% 4.34% 4.34% 13.04%
TVR Distribution of sources Local correspondent 1 8 No source 11.11% 88.88% Distribution of the foci of domesticity Asia Local Regional 3 rd Double entries 6 1 2 1 1 66.66% 11.11% 22.22% 11.11% 11.11% Distribution of degree of centrality Main Secondary Minor 1 1 7 11.11% 11.11% 77.77% Distribution of the locus of evaluation Negative Neutral, Negative Neutral Neutral, positive 0 0 8 0 1 Positive 0% 0% 88.88% 0% 11.11% Framing Economy Environment Politics Social affairs 1 0 5 3 11.11% 0% 55.55% 33.33% Economy Agri cult ure Busi ness Ener gy Fina nce Infra stru ctur e Indu stry Reg. Inte grati on 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0% 0% 0% 11.1 1% Politics Internal 0 5 Stat e of econ omy 0% 0% 0% 0% External 0 55.55%
Social Affairs Culture Demogr aphics Educati on Enterta inment Healthc are Lifestyl e Migrati on Natural disaster 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 Sports 0% 0% 0% 11.11% 0% 0% 11.11% 11.11% 0%