DE WERELD, ONS HUIS? Het nieuwsselectieproces bij buitenlandberichtgeving: Een kwantitatieve inhoudsanalyse van de berichtgeving in De Morgen en De Volkskrant.

The study of the news selection process has a long tradition in communication research and focuses primarily on the issue of imbalances in international news and information flows, resulting in an ongoing debate on the establishment of a New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO). Recent research (Thussu, 2005; Wouters, De Swert & Walgrave, 2009) assumes that the key criticisms of this 40 year old debate are still valid today because of the globalization, privatization and commercialization of the media. The study of foreign news and research on the mechanisms that cause these imbalances in the selection of international news, enable us to critically consider our image of the ‘global village’ in order to be ‘good global citizens’ (Mowlana, 1993). News selection of foreign coverage can be studied from a gatekeeper and a logistic perspective (Wu, 1998). Some authors combine these two approaches to outline a more complete picture of the factors that influence the news selection process (Gans, 1979; Van Dijk, 1988; Servaes & Tonnaer, 1992; Shoemaker & Reese, 1996). Wu (2000) identified nine systemic determinants of international news. For the impact of trade volume and presence of international news agencies have already been demonstrated in the study of Wu, we examined the influence of the remaining seven systemic determinants on the news selection process. These are: economic power (ranking in world trade), population, geographic size, freedom of the press, cultural affinity, colonial ties and physical distance. To examine the impact of these seven systemic determinants, we set up a study that combined content analysis and document analysis. By means of a document analysis we examined various documents with data on the systemic determinants to render a ranking of countries in accordance with their importance on each systemic determinant. Then, we set up a content analysis to study the presence of these countries in foreign news reports. This enabled us to interpret the rankings of the document analysis in a valid manner. By comparing the ranking of a country on every systemic determinant with the amount of news reports on this country, we could register how far each systemic determinant influences foreign news coverage. Two quality newspapers in Flanders (De Morgen) and the Netherlands (De Volkskrant) were coded during two constructed weeks in 2009 (1091 articles). The content analysis showed that Europe and the United States are the most covered regions in the world. Beside this, the presence of Muslim countries such as Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan is remarkable. Economic and political actors and themes dominate international news. Findings indicate that ranking in world trade and cultural affinity are important predictors of the amount of coverage dedicated to a country. The impact of colonial ties depends on the specific historical context of each country. The study concludes that the determinants of international news have changed. While ideological antagonism was a central factor in news selection during the Cold War era, the findings suggest that economic interests and religio-political identities determine foreign news in the 21st century