Sourcing practices and journalistic role performance : a comparative content analysis of COVID-19 related news in four European countries

Research into journalistic sourcing practices has a long tradition in the field of communication and journalism studies and has repeatedly demonstrated that elite sources enjoy privileged access to the news, although there are differences depending on factors such as the news outlet (e.g. mainstream versus alternative), the news beat (e.g. politics versus science versus culture) and the story angle (e.g. factual versus human interest). Additionally, several studies have demonstrated increased reliance on elite sources during times of breaking news and crisis, when information is uncertain and circumstances are changing rapidly. In these instances journalists have tended to turn to elite sources as governments and experts to find answers (Mellado et al., 2021). Our study focuses on a critical period of the COVID-19 pandemic, a global health crisis with unprecedented impact in recent times, and which was characterized by markedly different responses, debates and perception of key stakeholders in different countries. This paper therefore investigates the types of sources as well as the journalistic role performance in COVID-related news articles in mainstream news outlets (newspapers, radio, TV, and online news) of 4 WesternEuropean countries (Ireland, United Kingdom, Belgium and Austria). A quantitative content analysis of 4353 news items published during two constructed weeks in 2020 shows that state and political sources are dominant in each country (they appear in 49% of all news items). Yet, we also found that there are significant differences between the countries. The most remarkable pattern is the fact that the UK (and to a lesser extent also Irish) news outlets have a tendency to consult all types of sources more often. Additionally, we found that they more often include multiple source types and multiple viewpoints. In the next step of the analysis, we will explore the link between sourcing practices and journalistic role performance. As Hellmueller and Mellado (2016) suggest, the choice for certain types of sources may be driven by the role orientation of journalists and news organizations. More specifically, we will analyze whether the fact that Belgian and Austrian news media show more unilateral coverage dictated mainly by state/political sources correlates with a higher presence of the loyal/facilitator role. Additionally, we will explore whether the higher presence of citizen sources in certain countries correlates with a higher score on the civic role, as suggested by Kurpius (2002). References Claudia Mellado, Daniel Hallin, Luis Cárcamo, Rodrigo Alfaro, Daniel Jackson, María Luisa Humanes, Mireya Márquez-Ramírez, Jacques Mick, Cornelia Mothes, Christi I-Hsuan LIN, Misook Lee, Amaranta Alfaro, Jose Isbej & Andrés Ramos (2021). Sourcing Pandemic News: A Cross-National Computational Analysis of Mainstream Media Coverage of COVID-19 on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, Digital Journalism, 9:9, 1261–1285, DOI: 10.1080/21670811.2021.1942114 Helmueller, L & Mellado, C (2016). Watchdogs in Chile and the United States: Comparing the Networks of Sources and Journalistic Role Performances. International Journal of Communication 10(2016), 3261–3280. Kurpius, D. D. (2002). Sources and civic journalism: Changing patterns of reporting? Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 79(4), 853–866. doi:10.1177/10776990020790040