Policy or Processes in Focus?

The news media are frequently accused of portraying politics as a strategic game rather than focusing on political issues. However. the understanding of the prevalence of different news frames in the media covet-age of politics is limited in several respects. This article seeks to contribute to remedying this by (1) conducting a longitudinal analysis of the use of different news frames during election periods as well as in everyday politics, (2) adopting an analytical framework including several different types of process focus, and (3) pointing to the importance of including political developments alongside changes in the media system when explaining developments in the news coverage of politics. The empirical analysis of twenty years of public radio news in Denmark confirms it long-term trend toward greater focus on electoral consequences in news stories in election periods however, the trend is not mirrored in news stories when an election is not imminent. In explaining these findings, situational factors related to the political system and party politics must he included alongside explanations pointing toward an increasing professionalization of political parties as well as long-term changes in the media system and in party competition.