Communication within the Transport Policy. Media and informal political communication--a case study.
Kamps, Klaus ; Baumert, Christin ; Borschel, Christoph 等
1 Introduction
Within policy-analysis most political science approaches
concentrate on the political system and associations as well as the
influence of institutionalized decisions (Blum and Schubert 2009;
Bandelow 1998; Noweski 2008; Sebaldt and StraBner 2004). Communication,
in particular, is being examined only marginally (Sarcinelli and
Tenscher 2008: 8), it functions as a basic frame of reference at most
(cf. Kamps, Horn and Wicke 2013: 276). This is rather astounding as
internal and external communications serve as the main tasks (cf.
Jentges et al. 2012: 384.) of such or-ganizations. If one takes the
dictum seriously that political com-munication is not only a tool for
politics but politics itself (cf. Jarren and Donges 2002: 22), the
question occurs to what extent studies based on communication sciences
provide a complementary insight into political negotiation and
decision-making systems.
The relation between politics or political public relations and
journalism has been present on the agenda of political communication
research for quite some time (e.g. Baerns 1985). A focus on
communicative and medial influences on decision-making processes in
policy fields and decisions themselves, on the other hand, is rather new
(Koch-Baumgarten and Mez 2007a; Jarren, Lachenmeister and Steiner 2007;
Vowe 2007; Koch-Baumgarten and Voltmer 2009, 2010). One result of these
works is the high dependency on contextual information concerning the
question if and to what extent media have an analytically traceable
impact on decisions. This means whether the 'media logic'
affects the process of a concrete political decision-making or not and,
furthermore, under which--institutional, structural and
situational--circumstances this might be the case. In short, the state
of affairs and its political and economical reach, the special network
con-figurations within the policy field and formal guidelines within the
multi-level system matter.
These findings somewhat contradict those analysis which may be
found under the key words 'medialization' or
'mediatization' and state a broad orientation of political
actors or organizations on a media logic (for further discussion cf.
Reinemann 2010). Against this background, the present exploratory
analysis examines the, Luftverkehrsteuergesetz' (hereafter:
LuftVStG) in order to answer the question to what extent formal and
informal communication, systematic processes and institutions influence
political decision-making processes within the political negotiation
system. The LuftVStG has been passed as a 'junktim' deal in
the context of a fiscal consolidation package and did not require
approval by the German, Bundesrat'.
2. Media, politics, policy fields: an outline of the theoretical
background
Within the German policy-analysis such concepts and approaches
dominate that concentrate on a "democracy by negotiation"
(e.g. Lehmbruch 2003). Nonetheless, these approaches neglect processes
of political communication and, therefore, most of the time the
medias' impact on political decision-making processes
(Koch-Baumgarten and Mez 2007b: 8-9). Still, (neo)institutional,
control-theoretical or systematical approaches do dominate at this point
(ibid.: 9).
In comparison, communication science--using catchphrases like
'mediatization' or 'medialization'--broadly
discusses to what extent political actors orientate themselves on the
media and even adjust their own activities (Meyen 2009; Reinemann 2010).
Communication studies investigate the consequences on the manufacturing,
presentation and legitimization of politics: for example on the
interaction- and information-behavior of parliamentarians (Puhe and
Wurzberg 1989), on experts in policy transfer (Tenscher 2003), on
specialized journalists (Rinke et al. 2006), on parliaments as
organizations (Marschall 1999), parties (Alemann and Marschall 2002) or
on communication of associations (Hoffjann and Stahl 2010; Steiner and
Jarren 2009). Other surveys investigate 'relationship games'
(cf. Donsbach et al. 1993) between two groups of actors, e.g.
journalists and political spokespersons (Pfetsch 2003; Pfetsch and
Mayerhoffer 2011) or PR-employees (Gottwald 2006). All these studies are
united by the fact that they are frequently adjusted to the relationship
of interaction of politics and journalism (Kamps, Horn and Wicke 2013).
Anyhow, it has to be mentioned that both political and communication
science look at the subject matter of association communication and
communication of interest groups through their particular disciplinary
lenses (Jentges et al. 2012: 385).
Specifically concerning policy fields there exists just a
relatively small number of case studies (cf. e.g. Koch-Baumgarten and
Mez 2007; Koch-Baumgarten and Voltmer 2010; Hoffjann and Stahl 2010;
Kamps, Horn and Wicke 2013), which all in all provide us with a
multi-facetted picture: Political decision in policy fields may be made
without traceable media influence over long periods of time so that
politics follows its own inner logic. However, this can change under
specific structural and situation-al circumstances. Especially
fragmented actor-constellations, a missing or bursting fundamental
consensus, the exclusion of public actors in the field and the
compatibility of concrete policy is-sues and media logic have to be
taken into account (Koch-Baumgarten and Voltmer 2009: 313). Based on
these findings it is not feasible to globally answer the questions if,
when and in which manner the media do influence specific decisions
within the political negotiation system.
Apart from this ambivalence of empirically verifiable factors of
influence, actors may assume that the media actually have an impact in
specific situations or, at least, they cannot completely deny the idea
that this impact might exist. In this way, classic association-research
distinguishes between an influence and support-logic (cf. Steiner and
Jarren 2009; Jentges et al. 2012: 386-388; Roose 2009): Political
communication in form of direct or indirect, media-transmitted
communication of interests towards political decision-makers (influence
logic) as well as in form of direct or media-orientated communication
towards members or other circles of supporters (support logic) (cf.
Roose 2009). One of the few broader quantitative studies concerning the
communication of interest groups in Germany (Jentges et al. 2012)
complements this perspective with a so-called reputation logic and a
reciprocity logic: Regarding the acceptance of their concern or request
associations do orientate themselves on the mass media and journalism
(reputation logic). Following the logic of reciprocity they also
orientate themselves on relevant segments of the public, e.g. on other
associations or intermediate organizations (ibid.: 25-26.). This way, a
simple association-policy-dyad may be further differentiated: Interest
groups do not only accommodate to their members or political
counterparts, they also keep an eye on other actors and organizations
within their field as well as on specialized media, online-strategies
and more.
Following this line of argumentation, a concern of this study, on
the one hand, was to answer the general research question about the
communication in the negotiation system of the transport policy. On the
other hand, it was also about clarifying whether--and if so--how public
or non-public communicative strategies (and their effectiveness) could
be explained by the procedure context of the LuftVStG: a) the fact that
the law didn't require any approval by the German Bundesrat, b) the
fact that the law was part of a fiscal consolidation package and
therefore subjected to a 'junktim'.
3 Method
3.1 Background information: The Luftverkehrssteuergesetz
As mentioned, this study concentrates on the LuftVStG as its
examination background. This specific law was one component of a
consolidation package that was accepted as governmental initiative in
June 2010. Being spread over four year, the fiscal package (cf. Borschel
et al. 2012: 4-5) embraced an amount of 80 billion Euros. Thereby, about
one billion Euros have been allocated to the LuftVStG. Precisely, the
law provides that when taking off from a German airport (starting from
January 1st, 2011) all air-lines have to pay a fee for every passenger.
This graduated 'tax' differs depending on the destination. On
January 1st, 2012 the fee declined. Being a part of a consolidation
package, the responsibility for elaborating this act fell within the
scope of the Federal Minister of Finance. Moreover, this law did not
require any approval by the German Bundesrat.
Three official objectives have been pursued through implementing
the law: Firstly, the air transport should be included within the
mobility taxation. Secondly, it should offer an incentive to behave in a
more environment-friendly manner. Thirdly, probably as its main
objective, this law depicts a contribution to the volume of savings. (1)
Some characteristics made the law quite useful for this study: a)
the act was adopted as a federal law which is why the federal states had
no influence on the law and the political responsibilities were clearly
given. Also, b) the law was part of a reform package and a variance in
topics could be expected--exceeding the general field logic. Besides
that, c) the law could be discussed in different contextual dimensions:
socially (consumer), economically (passenger numbers, enterprises'
losses) and ecologically (mobility taxation). Furthermore, there was a
possibility of reducing the tax after the time period of one year and an
evaluation report was about to be published by the government in the
summer of 2012. All this led to the assumption that within an acceptable
timeframe, a discussion about the tax within the political field might
be expected and that it would bring along a sufficient variance for the
planned framing analysis. The study chose different methods in order to
pursue its objectives: identification of policy actors, content (frame)
analysis and qualitative interviews.
3.2 Identification of policy actors and selection of interviewees
Firstly an analysis of relevant and important policy actors of the
LuftVStG was conducted. This had to be done in order to identify the
central persons of this political field for the following qualitative
interviews. The period of time and the material of the examination
corresponded with those of the subsequent content analysis. Articles of
three national daily newspapers (taz, Suddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung), two business newspapers (Handelsblatt, Financial
Times) as well as the political magazines Focus and Der Spiegel and the
local newspapers Bonner Generalanzeiger and Berliner Zeitung were
examined in the interval from June 8, 2010 until January 15, 2012.
Additionally, parliamentary documents such as protocols were included.
In the end, 619 printed articles contained the word
"Luftverkehrssteuergesetz" (or one of 13 other synonyms) in
its caption, subtitle or text. These articles and documents were the
basis to find out which persons were involved. Ultimately, a number of
288 individual and corporative players of politics, economy and
associations could be identified (2). In addition to that, 183
journalists were found. Nevertheless, interviewees for the subsequent
surveys were not exclusively selected on basis of this counting.
Actually, people who did not play an essential role in the print media
but were mentioned throughout the political documents were also depicted persons of interests for the interviews, and a list was created in which
all participants were grouped. 101 persons received a letter of inquiry.
Eventually, 39 interviews (3) could be realized. The interviewees were
structured as follows: four economy experts, nine political players,
five journalists, twelve representatives of airports or airlines and
nine people from touristic, transport or environmental associations.
3.3 Media Content Analysis
On the basis of the same printed material--same period of time,
sources and criteria (619 articles)--a content analysis was conducted
and frames were identified: argumentation patterns, subdivided into the
frame elements problem definition, causal attribution, (moral) judgments
and remedies for further actions (cf. Entman 1993).
The codebook mainly was created inductively4: Previously, no frames
per se were defined. Nonetheless, all frame elements were verified by
structure and combination and put together as frames right after data
collection (cf. Matthes and Kohring 2004: 62). All in all, the first
evaluation differentiated 60 single arguments, which were aggregated in
16 superior frames. Those represented the most crucial frames within the
discussion about the LuftVStG (see later the presentation of results).
3.4 Qualitative Interviews
It was the key objective of the structured guideline interviews to
find out: a) which arguments had been mentioned by the discussion
participants themselves, b) which arguments they considered as central,
c) which communicative strategies had been followed up by the players
and d) how useful and effective they estimated each single argument.
With regard to the variety of players, four different guidelines were
developed. These four guidelines were either used for the political
actors, representatives of associations and companies or independent
third party experts and journalists. One special feature should be
pointed out: Following a multistaged approach, all interviewees were
confronted with the results of the previous framing analysis, including
their own medial presence (alternatively the medial presence of their
branch, company, etc.) in the context of the discussion.
Finally, all interviews had been transcribed and captured
categorically by means of a codebook. Besides, statements relating to the assessment of discourse, coalitions of interests or the general
relationship between politics and media were interpreted according to separate schemes.
4 Results
The following presentation of results focuses three aspects: 1)
public communication by means of arguments, frames, which have been
published by the media (sample); 2) speakers of these frames; 3)
informal communication in the context of the LuftVStG. These aspects are
analyzed through interviews and the content analysis of the political
and medial discourse.
4.1 Frames within the media coverage
First of all, a simple count of all articles reveals that the media
coverage about the tax may be divided into three separate phases (Figure
1): an initial phase with an intense coverage which starts immediately
after the decision of the cabinet (June 2010 until December 2010), a
second phase from January 2011 until June 2011 with lower intensity and
fewer peaks, and a third phase from July 2011 until January 2012 with
more peaks at the beginning which then, however, vanish gradually with
the change of the fee-structure in January 2012. Thus, the quality of
the public communication resembles the process of the legislation
itself: an intense phase immediately after the decision of the cabinet,
which flattens after the parliamentary passage, followed by a phase with
less coverage, and eventually another intense phase referring to the
intended change until the end of 2011.
Figure 1: Phases within the media coverage / articles addressing
the tax
Juni2010 12,5
Juli2010 17,3
August2010 8,2
Sept2010 9,2
Okt2010 9,5
Nov2010 5,5
Dez2010 5,3
Jan2011 1,2
Feb2011 1,9
Marz2011 3,4
Apr2011 1,6
Mai2011 3,2
Juni2011 0,7
Juli2011 4,6
Aug2011 4,4
Sept2011 1,5
Okt2011 2,3
Nov2011 5,4
Dez2011 1,9
Jan2012 0,3
Note: Share of articles per month in relation to the entire
media coverage in percent, N = 619
Note: Table made from bar graph.
All three phases can be explained more detailed with regard to
their patterns of argument.
The first phase refers to consumers and passengers. With 17.4
percent (in this phase) the problem 'the tax has influence on the
behavior of the consumers' is most frequently mentioned. The
argument 'influence on passenger figures' is the second most
important with 15.8 percent. Interestingly, the argument 'fiscal
revenues for the national budget' plays a minor part from the start
(10 percent) even though this was the essential reason for the law. This
can be ascribed to the dominance of the airlines and airports within the
media. In almost 40 percent of all cases the speakers of an argument
belong to one of these two aviation groups. In contrast, political
speakers emphasize the positive effects of the tax for the national
budget (see 5.2).
The important argument for companies that a decline in passenger
figures would affect their financial situation is only discussed
marginally in the initial phase, though. The same is true for arguments
concerning international competition, economic aspects or ecological issues (4 to 5% each). In contrast to the other phases, the first phase
is the most heterogenic one with regard to content and patterns of
argument.
The second phase (January 2011 until June 2011) is obviously less
intense: It is even the least intense one within the entire
investigation period. A potential reason for this may be the fact that
nearly all decisions concerning the law had already been made prior to
this phase. Hence, there is not much talked of. This phase is slightly
dominated by the argument that 'the law has influence on passenger
figures' (19.8% in this phase) as well as the argument that
'the law has influence on the sales of a company' (18.3%).
This argument comes to the fore in the second phase because the
companies start to publish tangible sales figures in this phase to proof
the (economic) consequences of the law.
In the third phase (July 2011 until January 2012) the argument
addressing the financial situation of a company reaches its peak: With
approximately 20 percent it becomes the most frequently mentioned
argument. It is easily comprehensible that this argument is often linked
to the statement that the tax will result in a decline of passenger
figures. The governmental 'power argument' that the tax will
contribute to the national budget vanishes completely from the medial
stage. Interestingly, two-thirds of all explicitly mentioned demands or
recommendations for actions (69%) in this phase are geared towards
abolition or at least reduction of the tax. That means prior to a
potential change of the tax companies and industries and their problem
definitions dominate the coverage.
Table 1 shows the occurrence of the eight most important frames
over the course of time. Especially five central patterns of argument
evolve in the media coverage: 'passenger figures',
'flight figures', 'financial situation of a
company', 'consumers', and with a little gap the
'contribution of the law to the consolidation of the national
budget'. (5) Especially the argument addressing ecological policy
issues (by means of a mobility tax) is only discussed in the initial
stage of the coverage (which is characterized by textual heterogeneity).
In all other phases this argument is nearly immaterial. This is
interesting since a mobility tax on the one hand and ecological policy
issues on the other hand represent two essential arguments for the
initiation of the law in the German Bundestag (see footnote 1).
Table 1: Frames over the course of time
Number of Number Financial
Passengers of Circumstances
Flights of Companies
Rate % Raid % Raid %
Valid June 18 17,14 7 6,67 14 13,33
2010
July 33 24,09 6 4,38 9 6,57
2010
August 9 16,98 1 1,89 4 7,55
2010
Sept 20 27,4 2 2,74 5 6.85
2010
Oct 14 16,67 26 31,00 11 13,10
2010
Nov 8 14,55 14 25,45 11 20,00
2010
Dec 7 13,72 19 37,25 4 7,84
2010
Jan 3 30,00 10,00 2 20,00
2011
Feb 4 26,67 2 13,33 2 13,33
2011
March 7 25,93 * 11,11 4 14,81
2011
Apr 1 7,69 4 30,77 3 23,1
2011
May 9 28,13 4 I2,5 12 37,5
2011
June 1 25,00 1 25,00 0 0,00
2011
July 15 31,91 11 23,40 3 6,38
2011
Aug 5 12,82 9 73,08 15 38,46
2011
Sept 4 30,77 3 23,08 2 15,38
2011
Oct 6 40,00 2 13,33 3 20,00
2011
Nov 10 16,95 7 11,9 16 27,12
2011
Dec 2 11,76 1 5,88 8 47,06
2011
Jan 0 0,00 0 0,00 0 0,00
20l2
Total 176 123 128
Consumer National National
Competition Budget
Raid % Rate % Rate %
Valid June 28 26,67 4 3,81 18 17,14
2010
July 21 15,33 21 15,33 22 16,06
2010
August 8 15,09 6 9,43 12 22,64
2010
Sept 21 28,77 3 4,11 10 13,70
2010
Oct 16 19,05 8 9,52 4 4,76
2010
Nov 15 27,27 3 5,45 1 1,82
2010
Dec 11 21,57 1 1,96 4 7,84
2010
Jan 2 20,00 1 10,00 0 0,00
2011
Feb 5 33,33 1 6,67 0 0,00
2011
March 6 22,22 1 3,70 0 0,00
2011
Apr 2 15,38 0 0,00 1 7,69
2011
May 4 12,5 0 0,00 1 3,13
2011
June 0 0,00 0 0,00 2 50,00
2011
July 7 1,49 2 4,55 1 2,13
2011
Aug 1 2,56 1 2,56 3 7,69
2011
Sept 3 23,03 0 0,00 2 15,38
2011
Oct 3 20,00 0 0,00 1 6,67
2011
Nov 13 22,03 2 3,39 0 0,00
2011
Dec 3 17,65 0 0,00 0 0,00
2011
Jan 0 0,00 0 0,00 0 0,00
20l2
Total 169 53 82
Jobs Environment Month
Total
(100%)
Rata % Rata % Rata
Valid June 8 7,62 8 7,62 105
2010
July 15 10,95 0 7,30 137
2010
August 10 18,87 4 7,55 53
2010
Sept 8 10,96 4 5,48 73
2010
Oct 3 3,57 2 2,38 84
2010
Nov 1 1,82 2 3,64 55
2010
Dec 5 9,80 0 0,00 51
2010
Jan 1 10,00 0 0,00 10
2011
Feb 1 6,67 0 0,00 15
2011
March 5 18,52 1 3,70 27
2011
Apr 1 7,69 1 7,69 13
2011
May 2 6,25 0 0,00 32
2011
June 0 0,00 0 0,00 4
2011
July 5 10,64 3 6,38 47
2011
Aug 2 5,13 3 7,69 39
2011
Sept 1 7,69 0 0,00 13
2011
Oct 0 0,00 0 0,00 15
2011
Nov 10 16,95 1 1,69 59
2011
Dec 3 17,65 0 0,00 17
2011
Jan 0 0,00 1 100,00 1
20l2
Total 81 40 850
Note: n and the share of frames within the particular month:
the 'top-frame' of every month is highlighted.
The five mentioned frames which are central to the coverage are
also graphed over the course of time (Figure 2):
[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]
The core objective of the law--fiscal revenues--is only discussed
subsequent to the cabinet decision. That does not mean that the tax
policy context gets lost. This context is, however, only marginally
understood as a problem. It rather accompanies government actions
self-evidently.
The process of the 'consumer' frame is similar. At the
beginning, the frame is a subject of discussion, but then it becomes
less important. Interestingly, the social category 'consumer'
constitutes only ten percent of all affected people who were mentioned
in the articles--even whilst taking into the account the category
'employees'. In contrast, airlines and airports are labeled as
the affected people in three-quarters of all cases. The small number of
consumers may be ascribed to the fact that their concernment is obvious
and does not need further explanation. Thus, only the consequences for
airlines and airports are discussed more explicitly.
'Passenger figures', the 'financial situation of a
company', and somewhat weaker the 'flight figures' are
the most constant arguments. In the first phase of the coverage these
three frames are tantamount to other frames. But during the second
phase, when the change of the tax is discussed, those three frames
marginalize others in the public media communication. That means they
are not discussed more intensely themselves but the other frames vanish
increasingly. Hence, the coverage becomes more homogenously in the final
phase even though this involves a lower level of diversity.
4.2 Speakers in the media coverage
Apart from the actual arguments surely the speakers of those are of
immense importance in order to make a proper description and analysis of
this political discourse. At this point 15 groups of speakers have to be
distinguished. The group's way of argumentation will at first be
illustrated in a chart. A more detailed examination will follow later
on.
[TABLE OMITTED]
In the examined articles the airlines have their say - by far - at
most; 27% of all arguments (n=309). Their argumentation is also the
richest in variety (13 of 15 arguments) and their 'biggest
argument' is the 'influence on the number of flights'
(25.9% of their frames). Of all actors the airlines also most clearly
uttered the argument that the LuftVStG affects consumers (21.7%).
Furthermore, they argued in respect of the attributions of
responsibility (the political-administrative system) and prompt to
action (abolition or reduction of the tax) most strongly compared to
other groups of speakers.
The airports have been represented strongly as well: They mentioned
13 of all 15 frames. Their percentage of arguments in the media was 14.3
percent. 'Passenger numbers' has been their most common
argument (36.7%). For them, the frames 'financial situation'
(12.7%) and 'flight numbers' (10.7%), on the other hand, have
been a little less relevant within the discussion. The airports mostly
occurred as the 'affected ones' within the debate--next to the
airlines they form the second most affected group.
The aviation industry in the form of delegates of associations
does, at least, occur as a speaker in 96 cases within the articles. This
corresponds to a share of 8.4 percent. This group of actors actually
should be assigned to those two groups that have just been mentioned:
the airlines and airports, however, they differ in their organizational
character. About one third of their arguments (31.3%) included the
argument of 'passenger numbers'. With a bigger distance the
arguments 'influence on jobs' (13.5%), the 'influence on
the international competition' and the 'financial situation of
the companies' (10.4%) followed.
Likewise, the political-administrative system appeared within the
articles as a rather strong speaker. As expected, its actors mostly
emphasized the question of the contribution to the consolidation (25% of
their arguments). With some distance this argument was followed by
'passenger numbers' (17.1%), 'Consumers' (13.2%) and
the 'economic situation' (11.8%). Following the logic,
political actors have been blamed for the law the most. Consequently,
almost all calls to action were addressed to them as well.
Journalists used interpretive comments as expression of opinion;
they account for 6.3 percent of all speakers. This number refers to the
explicitly marked statements by journalists. In the journalists'
reasoning (as a group) it is noticeable that no argument is specifically
highlighted, expressions of opinion are distributed rather
heterogeneously. They also most commonly used the 'number of
passengers' frame (13.9% of their arguments), yet immediately
followed by the argument 'financial situation of the company',
'influence on the consumers', 'influence on the
environment', 'influence on the number of flights'. In
addition, the coding shows an extremely high proportion of arguments,
which cannot concretely be assigned to any of the speakers. Altogether,
this is true for 233 cases, which equates to a proportion of 20.3
percent of the whole discussion. This is due to the journalistic routine; an assignment to a speaker was only done if it was clearly
identifiable. These cases of non-specific reasoning in print articles
also show the pronounced heterogeneity in the breadth of frames used. In
other words: from a journalistic perspective the discussion in the
opinion forming as well as in the information reporting was presented
rather heterogeneously.
A last important group of players, which had their say in the
articles, were representatives of the travel and tourism industry with
6.2 percent of the arguments. For these representatives the
'consumers' frame had priority (39.4% of their arguments);
besides they focused on the 'number of passengers' argument
(21.1%). Seven further thematic aspects were mentioned, yet only
marginally. In the detailed analysis of this group of players it is
recognizable that opposed to expectations they did not predominantly argue negatively, this was done by about 38%, however a good half of the
arguments were neutral, a few times statements were positive, among
other things with reference to the environ-mental problem.
These six groups of players were thus central to the discussion
around the LuftVStG. Additionally, other speakers appeared in the
examined media, such as those from environmental organizations, players
of international or national politics. In sum, one may therefore say,
that representatives of airlines, airports, industry organizations
including travel and tourism associations as well as journalists and
players of the political-administrative system (i.e. ministerial spokesmen) dominated the public discussion. These six groups are in the
focus of interest in the following analysis of their behavior over time
and in view of the five central frames.
At first the print-media appearance of players during the period of
investigation will be addressed (Figure 3).
[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]
This figure shows that the representatives of airlines, which on
the whole dominate the discourse or present the largest proportion of
speakers. That is especially true for the first phase after the cabinet
decision and immediately ahead of the parliamentary decision or during
the debate about a reduction in autumn and winter 2011 respectively. The
representatives of the political-administrative system show a clear peak
in July 2010--immediately after the reaction of companies and industries
before. Apart from that they stay at a rather low level over time.
Journalists as speakers (in interpretive or opinion-forming articles)
appear slightly increased after the cabinet decision, as to the rest
they remain at a constant, rather low level. Immediately after the
decision of the German Government airports, too, display the highest
attention in the articles and decrease a little afterwards, yet
constantly remain a topic for discussion. The same is true (in total at
a lower level) for representatives of the aviation, travel, and tourism
industry. Hence it becomes clear that in particular airlines and also by
far airports as companies lead the debate. Representatives of
associations accompany the process, but are not visible at the same
extend as speakers.
The following five figures (Figures 4-8) of the quantitative part
reveal in which ways players over time with which arguments were placed
in the printmedia reporting. Doing so, the above mentioned central
frames will be used: 'Number of passengers', 'number of
flights', 'financial situation of the company',
'consumers' and 'national budget'.
[FIGURE 4 OMITTED]
[FIGURE 5 OMITTED]
[FIGURE 6 OMITTED]
[FIGURE 7 OMITTED]
[FIGURE 8 OMITTED]
The frame 'number of passengers' is important in the
discussion of the LuftVStG and predominantly used by airports, followed
by airlines--although one could have expected that in reverse order. The
airlines argue in return (relatively viewed) rather by using the closely
related argument of the number of flights. Before the law was passed and
before the fees were introduced the numbers of passengers also became an
issue for the associations of the aviation industry, yet for long
periods this is not the case. Other-wise, there are barely any
conspicuities or peaks noticeable; this topic (like the others) by and
large follows the division into three phases made above.
As mentioned above and evident from this figure, the argument
'number of flights' is heavily determined by speakers of
airlines. Even the airports, for which this aspect is likewise of some
importance, come back to this frame--during the whole time period just
16 times. The political-administrative system in its generally given
restraint places this frame only once. Also the representatives of
industries and associations as well as journalists marginalize this
question.
The 'financial situation' of the companies is a constant
issue of the reporting at a low level, yet it is actually only addressed
mainly by the affected airlines--and this with peaks, roughly
distributed like the reasoning with the number of passengers by the
airports. Contrary to the steady processes of other groups of players
these peaks hint at a strategic agenda-building. The two central players
of the print-media discussion thus set priorities or--what cannot be
excluded--are integrated in the reporting by journalists in a
standardized way.
The assumption of a timed framing-strategy by speakers of the
airlines is supported by the presentation of groups of players over time
of the 'consumers' frame. Airlines place some reasoning peaks
during the parliamentary procedure and in this respect almost at the
same time with their reasoning regarding the number of flights. The
arguments to the financial situation of the companies are temporally following, probably because at first only prospectively and then, in the
course of the year 2011, being able to back it up with hard facts.
Otherwise the 'consumers' frame is also a focus of the travel
and tourism industry, especially in winter 2011. For the rest of the
groups of players this frame remains marginal.
As mentioned before, the question regarding the consolidation
contribution of the LuftVStG is in the focus of interest for political
motives. The last diagram of this section shows once again that the
corresponding frame is placed only rarely--and if so then by players of
the political-administrative system. Airports and airlines or their
speakers, respectively, did not use it at all--not even in a negative
sense. As has become apparent in the last figures these players clearly
set other priorities. However, this does not mean that the nexus between
the legislation and the national budget is not part of the journalistic
reporting (this is similarly true for the 'consumers' frame):
the connection is set, actually rather extensively and over the
investigation period, yet there has not been a linkage to a
representative of a strategic group of players. In this vein, the
consumer argument was additionally mentioned 52 times and the budget
argument 53 times in the articles, which in turn taken as a whole
equates in each case to almost a quarter of the mention of these
arguments. In other words: As already touched upon several times, the
journalistic coverage was more heterogeneous than the addressing
attempts of single players.
However, this description of the debate around the
'LuftVStG' does show some thematic priorities and that
specific arguments--like those concerning the taxing of mobility--are
only marginally addressed. Since this is not an input-output study
(which would for instance compare press releases to the reporting), it
can only indirectly be indicative of communication strategies and their
consequences. Therefore this study, as mentioned in the methodological
part, also included guideline-based interviews with those players, who
accompanied or lead the discussion with a different organizational
background.
4.3 Qualitative results
Several steps are required in order to analyze the qualitative
interviews. In particular, all communicative actions named by the
interviewees have been classified in a category system and analyzed with
the help of qualitative data software (MAXQDA). It has to be mentioned
that these interviews were conducted after a first examination of
material and framing-analysis. The results were incorporated into the
interviews. Therefore, the interviewers were able to precisely ask
interviewees about their specific communicative actions, arguments, and
strategies of communication. In the following, the results will be
outlined according to a) the political and b) the media debate. The
political debate mainly deals with the informal interference of actors
as well as the assessment of their decisions. Regarding the media debate
we question the interference on journalists and the assessment of their
journalistic reporting in the context of the LuftVStG.
4.3.1 The political debate
By analyzing and assessing the political debate five major argument
categories have been identified: 'surprise', 'solo
effort', 'responsibility', 'lack of readiness to
talk' as well as 'industry coalition'.
Approximately 50 percent of all political actors emphasized that
the law-making procedure happened to be surprising and rapid: an
assessment, which has been confirmed by most groups of actors, and
therefore, is not considered as an exclusive perspective. For instance,
one journalist mentioned that according to his information inside the
governing coalition the taxation of air traffic was never at issue
before (J03: 1f.). Also actors of aviation and tourism industry referred
to this process as atypically fast: "If this law had been passed
regardless of the national budget, it would have taken at least one or
two year to pass it in an orderly way involving all stakeholders"
(B14: 10). Another industry representative called the taxation an
"instrument of desperation of the coalition" (B20: 3) as there
is no broad agreement about alternative opportunities of cost-saving or
revenue. According to another journalist, the lobbying came to nothing
as the process happened to be what he called a "knee-jerk
action" (J01: 3): "The industry has been that overrun so that
the whole effort of lobbying did not work anymore; neither towards
journalists nor towards the policy" (J01: 3). In contrast, the
political actors described the procedure as surprising, but not as
intense as non-political actors did.
Again approximately half of the interviewees emphasized that the
law can rather be considered as a solo effort of the government with
minor or no room for negotiation. Four out of nine politicians
interviewed and three out of five journalists share this opinion.
However, actors of aviation and tourism industry are again by far the
group with the most interviewees approving this statement. An
airline's delegate remarked it had been clear from early stages on
that it all is about how to elaborate the taxation and not how to
prohibit: "What happens afterwards is basically lobbying within an
already made decision" (B03: 3). Even an interviewed member of an
environmental association who actually supports the introduction of the
taxation, points out the lack of alternatives: "Within the CDU apart from Schauble, I would say 80 percent of their members had a
rather skeptical opinion about this fee, this tax. Within the FDP,
actually all members were against the taxation but probably could not
present an alternative" (B06: 15).
Twelve interviewees criticized the poor influence of the
responsible Federal Ministry of Transport in elaborating the LuftVStG.
Numerous actors felt left out by the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF)
who played the leading role in the law-making procedure. Also, those
actors saw the ministry as rather monolithic and with a lack of
readiness for discussion. "Everyone we had talked with and tent to
be on our side, said: sorry, but the FMF had spoken and there is nothing
we can to" (B09 & B10: 3). Despite concerns from
specialists' point of views the minister of transport was not able
to prevail against the Federal Ministry of Finance--a view, which has
been expressed by several political actors (e.g. P02:.2). This appraisal
confirms and emphasizes the atypical procedure of law-making. The usual
division of competences and responsibilities among the ministries has
possibly been skipped for the benefit of a fast adoption of the
cost-cutting package. In case of the taxation of air traffic the
affected industries had place their interests in a ministry, which
was--speaking in 'lobby' terms--unchartered territory for
them.
All interviewees belonging to the aviation and tourism industry
talked about a poor readiness to talk and discuss--therefore, the
interviewees were rather dissatisfied with the exchange of information
between policy and the industry itself. Another journalist confirmed the
rather strong request of making contact with politics: "It is
absolutely clear that the industry has been very
active--communicative--(...) and this shows the higher the concern the
higher is the request of communication" (J03: 8). In contrast,
according to his observation the communication between policy and media
actors have been much more intense. However, opposition politicians
shared the opinion that although companies and industry associations try
to get in contact with the policy, the communication has been rather
"weak or completely missing" (P02: 6) on the ministerial base.
Seven interviewees criticized a lack of cohesion within the
aviation industry in the first instance. However, only two out of 18
interviewed industry representative shared this opinion. Also, only
three interviewees of this group talked about a failure of communication
within their industry. Just a few interviewees reflected the effort of
their own industry critically. One tourism industry's
representative referred to a "personal sensitivities" (B12:
13) of companies and associations which made it more complicated to
enforce common interests: "In this case, the industry has been
unprofessional. We have to change it, and we do know [that]" (B12:
13). Another representative of an environ-mental association rated the
communication of the aviation industry as less professional and in some
way even arrogant (vgl. B06: 6). In the end, they seemed to had
"overrated their influence and underrated the capabilities and
abilities on the other side" (cf. B06: 6). Furthermore, the
assessment of journalists appears to be rather interesting: four out of
five interviewed journalists rated the cohesion within the industry as
poor or even not existing. One of those journalists spoke about a
communicative failure of the aviation industry and referred not just
only to the dialogue between the industry and politicians but also to
the communication in direction of media. One had made the mistake of
communicatively not pulling together (cf. J01: 2). This dissension has
been recognized by the policy-makers and was--according to his
opinion--a crucial factor to the failure of the aviation industry in
remaining steady against the policy. "And at this point politicians
had the impression: they brawl among themselves, so we don't see a
point in abolishing the tax" (J01: 2). This assessment of effort in
lobbying of the aviation industry is particularly interesting as it
shows the clear difference between self-awareness and awareness of
others.
In the context of communication research it was also interesting to
see how all actors assessed the significance of informal and formal
communication--a level of assessment that lies lateral to the five
identified categories of arguments. The interviewees were asked to rank
which way of communication within the debate about the LuftVStG has
taken over which significance. In this context, "informal
communication" is defined as the exchange and transfer of
information beyond official paths such as parliamentary debates,
consultations, protocols, press conferences or press releases.
22 out of 39 actors (56%) stated that in the context of this law
informal communication has been more effective and important,
respectively. In nine cases informal communication has been rated as
relevant. This opinion has been shared even within policy. A member of
the parliament said relating to the significance of informal
communication: "If I really want to change something, I don't
start a major conversation, I would go off the side with a parliamentary
undersecretary. (...) Every lobbyist is doing that. Every politician is
doing that if he wants to achieve something" (P06: 13). Basically,
the entire aviation industry showed distinctly an increased usage of
informal communication. Eleven out of 18 interviewees stated that this
way of communication is of essential importance to them and the basis to
make significant decisions. Independent experts agree with this opinion
as well. Additionally, one journalist emphasized the importance of
informal communication for his background information: "Sometimes
it is more important to have an informant with who you can talk about
things you won't necessarily write about" (J04: 7). Thus,
within the groups of different actors there is no clear opinion on which
way of communication has which significance. However, more than half of
the interviewees and also most industry's actors described informal
communication as more relevant and target-aimed while political actors
restrained a decision which of those two ways of communication is more
important.
4.3.2 Media debate
After assessing the political discourse, the different actors have
been asked about the usage and relevance of media relating to the
LuftVStG.
A relatively homogenous outcome resulted out of the plain question
how important the media coverage and reporting has been to the
interviewees: five interviewees of the aviation and tourism industry
stated that they did not received further information; four stated the
opposite. Also four out of nine interviewed politicians gathered
additional information from the media. Although journalistic articles
seemed to be basically suitable to communicate new aspects and ideas or
current developments, they were not seen as the major opportunity.
The quality of the reporting has been appraised as constantly well
by six out of 39 interviewees. Ten actors saw quality variation. Within
the aviation and tourism industry the quality has been judged
differently. Among politicians the quality has not been valued as well
at all. For one politician the reason for the--as he observed
it--unbalanced negative assessment of the tax within the media coverage
can be seen in the proximity of industry to media: "In the end,
[this] confirms our impression that the critical journalism has not
really been involved. (...) In this case, one has rather responded to
the quite powerful industry's arguments. (...) It is much easier to
talk down a politician rather than an industry" (P08: 11). The
assessment of an unbalanced media reporting of the issue is supported by
the media content analysis, indeed: In 14.4% of all cases, the LuftVStG
and its implementation has been valued positively. According to a
representative of an aviation association this is caused by the tendency
of journalists to take over the position of readers and therefore
potential passengers.
Concerning the quantity of media coverage there is only little
agreement among the interviewees, as well. Seven out of 39 estimated a
high amount of articles, six a rather low amount. This phenomenon can
possibly be caused by the (quantitatively seen) phased media discussion
of the law. Another representative of a travel business perceived this
as rather typical: "The first stage occurs to be, let's say, a
presentation of facts, the government is planning. After this, usually a
parliamentary undersecretary has to go in public (...) and then the
industry will awake and counteract harshly. And then, it'll
increase also quantitatively." (B17: 5)
Representatives of aviation and tourism industry thought that
communicating the issue of the air traffic taxation via media is rather
difficult as even politicians are not able to explain the impact of the
taxation. "This makes the process of lobbying much more
complicated. One cannot taper [this issue] with a few, (...) in two or
three sentences" (B20: 9). Additionally, all room in newspapers for
reporting about the air traffic taxation have been taken by other
problems of the industry such as air traffic controller strikes or
protests against aircraft noise (cf. B15: 12). One journalist pointed
out: "Fee on air traffic, if you read that, you won't
continue. What is a fee on air traffic actually? (...) 'Ticket
tax' clearly means I have to pay additional money on top of the
ticket. That makes it simply bold" (J01: 12).
Moreover, one actor of an environmental association added that the
issue has not principally been "driven by media" but rather
"driven by policy" (B06: 14). The intention has not been to
integrate the media but rather create a broad agreement among the
politics--some journalists were of the same opinion. "It was not
(...) a specifically public (...) press relations in this point"
(J01: 8). A speaker of the tourism industry submitted that basically the
relevance of media presence in the context of LuftVStG should not be
overrated: "But that is not the horse we are betting on. (...). We
try to argue and place [our concern] in direct contact with
politicians" (B09 & B10: 4). This concurs with the major
assessment of industries' representatives. However, in terms if
media potential, it contradicts with the evaluation of some journalists
who do not see the potential of this issue being fully used: "I
think one could have done much more [with this issue] if one had work
target-aimed and commonly asked the question: How could we get this
topic back in the media once again?" (J01: 16)
Only three interviewed actors spoke of a failure of the media
position. Two of those interviewees work in the field of politics.
Members of the parliamentary opposition made these critical assessments.
In reversely concern of the media coverage's influence on the
discourse on LuftVStG, approximately half of the interviewees stated
that the coverage did not influence the political discourse and the
procedure of law making. At least nine interviewees spoke about a rather
low influence, only two as high.
This tendency can also be found in particular groups of actors.
Seven out of nine politicians, more than half of the industry (eleven
out of 18) and also the independent experts (three out of four) termed
the influence of media coverage on the political discourse as not
existing. And in the given situation this is certainly not surprising:
"The issue is not necessarily a topic which is controlled by the
media due to time, due to framework conditions and due to the
complexity" (B14: 22). Apparently, one did not manage a sufficient
media presentation of the taxation's consequences so that after all
politicians would have been able to recognize other arguments (cf. B15:
12). Even three out of five journalists spoke about a low or even no
influence of the media reporting which could indicate that journalist
reflect their own work in a self-critical way (concerning the actual
influence on politicians). However, it is more likely that journalists
who have been well informed about the issue recognized from early stages
on that the law couldn't be avoided. The politicians' approach
shows that media coverage can be a relevant factor in order to assess
what is politically enforceable--and what is not. However, journalists
also pointed out that the media could only draw attention to one certain
situation, which exists anyway. Also, it is less likely that one can
automatically put new issues on the media's agenda by oneself (cf.
J04: 21).
The interviewees have also been asked about the media's
influence separately from this certain case. The aviation and tourism
industry's interviewees have rated this influence as high (six
times) or depending on the issue (seven times). "I know that a
single article in any newspaper will not change the stable opinion of a
politician" (B11: 18). It is more likely to mobilize people to a
certain issue if it is presented in "classic quality media as well
as yellow press" (B11: 18). In contrast, lobbyism has been playing
an important function--not just only personal contact with journalists
but also with politicians: "the actual influence is created in
personal conversation, hearings and consultations and not in the
press" (B18: 16). A representative of a tourism industry limited
the media's influence even further. The media is having rather no
influence on the law-making procedure. The only thing they can do is to
achieve an amendment subsequently (cf. B07 & B08: 17). Another
representative: "None of my colleagues is talking with the press.
The press cannot induce anything. We need to achieve it with information
and communication. (...) Certainly towards those people who set up
decisions or those who take decisions" (B18: 16).
According to these statements, for economic actors media plays a
rather subsidiary function in the law-making procedure--if at all the
media could have achieved change in the aftermath. However, lobbying
prior to political decisions is seen as relevant and crucial to
influence--whereby the dilemma in the present case can be explained
retrospectively: The surprising political decision has basically blocked
the usual path of political influence. The influence via media did not
work out--this occurs to be much more difficult anyway, especially if it
is about a sheer specialized issue (cf. B05: 20).
In context of this study, the (reported) groups of actors'
communicative actions cannot be explained in detail. There was a certain
attempt to include the media. Nevertheless, it was not possible to
influence the government initiative due to the packet solution of the
LuftVStG's passage. The actions were described as process and
system focused. In other words: following the theoretical assumptions of
medialization of politics, a clear alignment towards the media has been
observed but only partly for example in sense of agenda building.
Especially industry representatives with a deep relation to lobbyism had
a stronger focus on a contact with politicians and even refused to work
with media. Hence, for industry representatives there was more emphasis
on a subsequently fiscal limitation of possible loss than on a strong
public awareness. Therefore, the industry had to response to the
LuftVStG with press releases, press conferences and suchlike. But they
particularly sought for informal contact the ministry (as the industry
also had to make new contact with the Federal Ministry of Finance in
this context of policy). However, after finalizing a decision the
executive branch apparently had no major concern in including
stakeholders or companies' representatives in further configuration
of laws - especially in case of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Nevertheless, most of the economic actors tried to find an agreement
with the government and--according to their statements--did not play via
the media. From the aviation industry's point of view it had rather
unfavorable consequences that there was a broad agreement
("abolishing the taxation") but one was not able to bunch
individual interests concerning a fiscally fundamental decision. The
foundation of the "Bun-desverband der Deutschen
Luftverkehrswirtschaft" (BDL--Federal Association of German
Aviation Industry) may be counted as an immediate consequence. According
to the statements of the major part of actors and observing journalists,
this way of institutionalization was not able to influence the
LuftVStG's configuration.
5 Discussion and conclusion
With the passing of a finance-political consolidation package in
June 2010 the German Government via the LuftVStG confronted the aviation
industry with an annual license fee resource--the 'ticket
tax'--of about one billion Euros per year. In this study the
discussion around this tax in form of frames--recurring patterns of
reasoning--in the media discussion was analyzed. Players and lobbyists
initially only succeeded marginally to place their reasoning
influentially in the political system or to put it on the media agenda.
With regard to the political process it is evident that a
government-concept prevailed. Neither was the tax discussed further in
its basic justification nor in its form by the government with affected
industries--be it associations or companies. In fact, the impression of
an ad-hoc decision succeeded in the public discussion which made it
difficult if not impossible for representatives of the industries to
wield influence with known procedures of lobbying--procedures prior to
governmental decisions. The reduction of ticket fees alone one year
after the introduction was achieved in consultation with representatives
of the industries without a clear strength of impact (particularly since
the facultative reduction in the legal text has already been agreed
upon). Moreover, the law per se was not subject to approval so that
possible coalitions of the industry with representatives of the federal
states did not come into question. Since in addition the
responsibilities of the procedure were with the Federal Minister of
Finance, who presented the law in a package, representatives of
companies and associations apparently had difficulties to accompany
their objections against the tax also within the ministerial bureaucracy
by informal communication. In this respect, one certainly has to speak
of a governmental and policy- and polity-driven process in the present
case, also regarding the eventually implemented reduction of the ticket
fee.
This characteristic by the decision-political constellation of the
LuftVStG also mirrors the question of the media discourse. Admittedly,
the interviewed players of this study expressed a clear media
orientation (persons strongly focused on political lobbying were only a
rare exception); nonetheless the influence of the media and the media
debate was perceived almost in unison as marginally.
Content wise and quantitatively the media reporting followed the
political process as well. The first phase immediately after the
cabinets' decision is the strongest and most differentiated phase
of the coverage--with regard to frames and speakers, which are mentioned
in the investigated context. Above all, the fact that the players
affected by the law followed different lines of argumentation and
(partly) initially were not represented by an established association,
might have contributed to the heterogeneous public discussion of the
'ticket tax' and journalism reporting about it in a gauging
way. In this phase one can still find the latent 'power
argument' of the government: the contribution to the
consolidation--who can at all be against the budget consolidation?
Striking is the relatively low proportion of speakers of the
political-administrative system in the media discourse including at
first the officially presented arguments against to the taxing of
mobility with its environmental aspect. This corresponds to the
restraint of the political-administrative system to become
communicatively active at all. Furthermore it is noticeable that it is
above all speakers from the central companies affected by the
law--airlines and airports--who succeed in the preliminary phase of a
possible reduction of the tax with their--although differently
focused--arguments to dominate the media coverage and not the
associations. For one thing this can be due to journalism actively
addressing the affected--and these are exactly mainly the airports and
airlines as organizational players--and for another thing a reversed
proactive media activity on the part of the industry associations.
The characteristics of the frame elements revealed in this study
are limited. In this regard the decisive power of the law being passed
is with the political-administrative system alone. This is the reason
why in the media there was only little direct attribution of
responsibilities--it was simply not necessary to express them. Since an
economic topic such as the LuftVStG is additionally not that emotionally
loaded, as is for instance often the case in family- and/or
social-policy the moral evaluations, seen quantitatively, are minor.
Finally, the case of the communication in the context of the
LuftVStG can be treated as a case of 'conditional
medialization' of the political process. The basic question of the
legislative initiative by the federal cabinet coined the media as well
as the political discussion in the negotiation process. Yet, informal
communication in the negotiation process as well as the media debate--at
least according to the assessments of the interviewed players--remained
largely without influence. A form of 'adjustment' of actors to
media logics is at most given in the form of communicative activities
such as press releases or press conferences: as routine activities.
Explicitly strategic communication via and with the media, say through
'experimental moves' could not be observed here. This may be
due to the special character of ad-hoc-decisions, too. Hence--in the
overall picture--the influence of communicative variables and on the
political and decision-making process as well as in the implementation
phase in this case is rather little.
Therefore, this study affirms other works in the context of
informal political communication within policy fields (Koch-Baumgarten
and Mez 2007a; Jarren, Lachenmeister and Steiner 2007; Vowe 2007;
Koch-Baumgarten and Voltmer 2009, 2010): the medias' influence on
political decisions seems to be widely affected by the specific
circumstances of the political question in hand. This holds true for the
question, whether (and how) journalist (and journalism in general) may
be used for strategic proposes of public affairs or public relation as
an additional component of informal political communication. Our
findings some-what contradict analysis which may be found under
catchphrases like 'medialization' or 'mediatization'
and state a broad orientation of political actors or organizations on a
media logic (for an overview Reinemann 2010).
Referring to this case study--to be more concrete--, several
dimensions should be distinguished: Firstly, obviously the specific
institutional question that the law was initiated within a package of
laws and--in addition--within the responsibilities of the Federal
Minister of Finance and not within that of the Federal Minister of
Traffic left the network configuration of the policy field
communicatively speaking--relatively--helpless. In other words: the
political structure, the political intention and the political option
somewhat 'overruled' the informal communication routines thus
far established.
Secondly, in this case the governments' rather surprising
decision shows that the question of strategic communication via public
or non-public communication, formal or informal communication seems to
depend upon a timely dimension: a) whether (or not) the policy field was
able to discuss the issue in hand in detail before an official political
intention was claimed, b) whether (or not) the law itself announces an
evaluation of its effects and possible changes later on and c) which
situational factors affect classical agenda-building strategies.
Thirdly, the issue itself respectively (and more concrete) a
missing or bursting fundamental consensus within the field
(Koch-Baumgarten and Voltmer 2009: 313) should be taken into account
when analyzing the effects (or non-effects) of political
communication--be it formal or informal. In addition, our study confirms
other analyses with regard to the correspondence between formal and
informal communication (e.g. Koch-Baumgarten and Mez 2007;
Koch-Baumgarten and Voltmer 2010; Kamps, Horn and Wicke 2013): the
fields' actors mostly agreed upon the notion that the influence of
informal communication by far outreaches the influence of formal and/or
public communication.
Generally speaking, based on our findings it is not feasible to
globally answer the questions if, when and in which manner the media do
influence specific decisions within the political negotiation system.
For future research designs it is obviously reasonable to switch
over to a comparative perspective (fields, issues, actors, institutions
and organizations, newsworthiness of the issue), to evaluate the nexus
of political logic, formal and informal political communication and
respective effects on political decisions.
(1.) Cf. Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksache 17/3542; Bericht des
Haushaltsaus-schusses zum Gesetz der Bundesregierung: 1.
(2.) Therefore, the analysis did not only capture persons but also
collective and corporate players like associations, enterprises, and
political parties.
(3.) This low return rate of about 39 per cent cannot be seen as an
excellent value, but it is good and sufficient.
(4.) The intercoder reliability by Holsti (cf. Rossler 2005: 190)
was in case of concerning the content variables r=.79.
(5.) Concerning the differentiation of these central frames:
'Passenger figures' predominantly refers to a potential
decline of passengers due to the tax, which might result in an
emigration of air passengers to airports abroad. The intertwined frame
'flight figures' relates to the cancellation of flights or
their relocation abroad. The 'financial situation of a
company' involves declining sales as well as aspects concerning the
location of a company. The frame 'consumer' includes
increasing prices for flight tickets and issues of social justice. The
fifth top-frame 'national budget' addresses the German package
of consolidation and how the tax positively contributes to the national
budget.
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Klaus Kamps, Christin Baumert, Christoph Borschel, David Holtgen
& Anna-Maria Thein
University of Erfurt (Germany)