Samenvatting

The objective of this research is to document the conducted analysis on how the political event of the European elections of 2019 was covered by the Dutch television talk shows ‘Pauw’ and ‘Buitenhof’. Due to numerous developments in mass media communication, the field of political communication is dynamic and subject to changes. The research is built on literature supporting these changes and describing the interrelationship between the actors in the field of political communication. More specifically, this research will focus on the power and influence these actors have on each other, according to their acting in infotainment talk shows. The central research question is, therefore, how the Dutch television talk shows ‘Pauw’ and ‘Buitenhof’ present the European elections of 2019? In order to answer this question qualitative content analysis is used, with a focus on textual analysis. The analysis is intended to research the themes, focus, guests, introduction of the presenter and a basic level of textual analysis of each selected fragment. Theories about changing political communication and on mediatization and personalization of politics helped to interpret the outcomes of the analysis. It is found that the analysed talk shows are mainly concerning national themes with a clear focus on national politics. Even though the intentions are to talk about the political event of the European elections, due to the type of guests that are invited and the raised topics, the national focus predominates the discussions. Moreover, the analysis shows that there is a focus on the personal dimension of politics. Likewise, the entertaining character is very much present in the analysed fragments. However, it has to be considered that entertainment partially belongs to the objectives of this type of shows. Nevertheless, a more balanced proportion was expected to be found. Furthermore, in-depth discussions about what the European elections entail and mean for citizens are found to a minimal extent. Therefore, it is concluded that these shows do not inform their viewers sufficiently about the European elections. Something that their name as being infotainment does suggest.