The 21st century has already seen dramatic changes affecting both journalism and politics. The rise of a range of new digital and networked communication technologies combined with the stagnation and decline of many traditional mass media has had a profound impact on political journalism. The arrival of new digital media has affected the ways in which political actors communicate with the public, with or without journalists as intermediaries. Newspapers that once held political leaders to account are now struggling to survive; broadcasters that once gathered whole nations for the evening news are now fighting for relevance faced with innumerable new competitors on cable and digital television; online-only media, such as blogs and social networking sites, are changing how we communicate about politics. News media remain central to political processes, but the ways in which journalists and politicians interact are changing. This book examines how and provides a comprehensive and comparative analysis of the state of political journalism in Western Europe today, including the many challenges facing journalists in this important period of transition.

The 21st century has already seen dramatic changes affecting both journalism and politics. The rise of a range of new digital and networked communication technologies combined with the stagnation and decline of many traditional mass media has had a profound impact on political journalism.

IntroductionPolitical Journalism in Transition (Raymond Kuhn, Queen Mary, University of London, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, University of Oxford and Roskilde University)Part I - Political Journalism Across Western Europe2. Political Journalism in the United Kingdom (Aeron Davis, Goldsmiths College, University of London)3. Trends in German Political Journalism (Carsten Reinemann, Munich University)4. Political Journalism in Denmark (Mark Blach-Ørsten, Roskilde University)5. Will Italian Political Journalism Ever Change? (Alessio Cornia, University of Perugia)6. Political Journalism in France (Raymond Kuhn, Queen Mary, University of London)Part II - Cross-cutting and Comparative Issues in Political Journalism7. EU News and Political Journalism (Olivier Baisnée, Sciences Po Toulouse)8. International News in Transition (Kevin Williams, Swansea University)9. Why Public Service Media (Still) Matters (Stephen Cushion, Cardiff University)10. The Rise of a Transnational News Logic? Comparing Political Reporting Styles of the 1960s and 2000s across Six Western Media Systems (Frank Esser, University of Zurich)11. Americanization Revisited: Western Europe Compared to the United States (Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, University of Oxford and Roskilde University)