Abstract

Most content analyses of science news are conducted in large Anglo-American media markets. However, we speculate that the intimacy between sources and journalists in small media markets can influence science coverage. Here, we present a comparative analysis of Danish and British newspaper science news in 2012. We find that in both countries science news amounts to about 4% of the total news flow. We also observe that Danish science news more often than British science news is triggered by political events, gives priority to national stories and includes more coverage of humanities and social sciences. Contrary, British science news is more traditional and favours stories on health and the natural sciences often triggered by a journal article. We attribute these differences to intimacy between the public, media, political and scientific spheres in Denmark partly rooted in a closed corporatist media market compared to an open liberal market in the United Kingdom.

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