oa Het einde van het persbericht in zicht? Een analyse van persberichten en mediaberichtgeving in de verkiezingscampagne van 2012

The end of press releases? An analysis of press releases and media coverage in the Dutch 2012 electoral campaign

In recent years, social media like Facebook and Twitter have dramatically increased possibilities for politicians to communicate directly with the public. Does that mean they do not use the classical press release as a way of communicating? This study shows that press releases are still a well-used campaign tools in the Netherlands, although not all parties use them equally, and one (VVD) does not at all. Looking at factors determining the success of press releases (i.e. to get covered in a national newspaper in the Netherlands), we did not find evidence for elements of political logic (e.g. inclusion of policy texts) to decrease the success, and hardly any evidence for elements of the media logic (e.g. including personal or emotional information about the politician) to boost success of press releases. Only the use of horse race terms turns out to be positive factor. All in all, press releases are still alive, they do get covered in the media, and the factors determining their success remain largely unaccounted for.