Singapore in German Media Analysis of Media Coverage in German Newspapers and Television

DOI: 10.5176/2301-3710_JMComm14.03

Authors: Marcel Machill, Sarah Steffen and Constanze von Szombathely

Abstract:

This paper examines German media coverage of the Southeast Asian country of Singapore in four German newspapers and three television programs. The quantitative content analysis of national daily newspapers Frankfurter AllgemeineZeitung (F.A.Z.), Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), Die Welt and tageszeitung (taz) between 2001 and 2011 shows that economic topics make up most of the newspapers’ content on Singapore. News stories from five information programs analyzed during the same time period – from public broadcasting stations ARD and ZDF as well as private broadcaster RTL – further indicate a predominance of themes concerning sports, politics, and human interest stories. Media coverage of Singapore tends to be sporadic and event-driven, without a differentiated approach to the coverage of society and culture themes. Singapore serving as a hub for many correspondents reporting on Southeast Asia led to a disproportionally high coverage of the country, journalists concluded in qualitative interviews.

Keywords: Singapore; German media; content analysis; foreign correspondents; stereotypes; international journalism