Far-Right Parties in the European Union and Media Populism: A Comparative Analysis of 10 Countries During European Parliament Elections

Abstract

The increasing popularity of far-right parties in Europe since the beginning of the 21st century has occurred alongside the commercialization of media markets, the proliferation of online news sources, media populism, and the mediatization of politics. This article advances an understanding of the relationship between media populism and voting for far-right parties by comparing the effects of traditional and online media outlets as well as using panel data to establish a causal relationship between consumption of particular news outlets and the propensity to vote for far-right parties. Analyzing 10 European Union countries with well-established and emerging far-right parties, this research also accounts for peculiarities of media systems. Results demonstrate that mass-market newspapers and online media increase voters’ propensity to support far-right parties, while upmarket newspapers and public broadcast service have the potential to mitigate this effect, especially in countries with high standards of journalistic professionalization. A discussion of differences in media effects among countries and directions for future research concludes the article.