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Although previous research focused on how governments use advertising to control news media, this study expands the literature on media capture not only by examining how state actors and dominant political parties control the advertising sector in a transitional democracy such as the Kurdistan Region of Iraq but also by exploring the (in)direct impact of various social actors, including corporations, political candidates in election periods, and international nongovernmental organizations. It reports on the findings from 19 in-depth interviews with media professionals and officials from media regulatory authorities. The findings show that advertisers are driven not only by the motivation to influence media content but also by economic interests, such as the colonization of state resources, personal gain, and crony capitalism. We conclude by discussing how precarious socioeconomic conditions lead media professionals to develop informal networks with advertisers-in turn, allowing powerful social actors to use advertising for either capturing news media or expanding their networks with authorities-and how this impacts on journalism practice.

In memory of Jan Blommaert, who introduced us to CDA and taught us the power of language. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is a systematic, linguistic analysis of discourse in its social context. As a qualitative method, CDA regards a text as the empirical manifestation of an underlying discourse and hence relates the analysis of the text to broader discursive practices as well as to social, economic and political processes. When applying CDA, you start from the idea that language is not neutral in the sense that by representing the world through the use of language, you will always actively construct a specific reality with a specific meaning given to it. CDA clearly manifested itself within the field of social sciences from the mid-2000s onwards and has become a popular methodological option to consider when a study is set up around social issues or questions of power/exclusion and ideology, driven by a critical stance on behalf of the researcher. Despite its increasing popularity as a qualitative method to examine semiotic content and texts within their broader context, undertaking a research project with discourse analysis often proves to be quite challenging to many students and scholars alike. While there is no single or simple definition of discourse, as such, the same goes for the number and nature of approaches to discourse analysis. In addition, and contrary to, for example, surveys or experiments, there is no straightforward or clear hands-on methodological toolbox. Approaching discourse analysis for the first time can feel confusing and complex. There are a wide range of options and approaches and a lot of seemingly abstract and conceptual ideas. But it is also a flexible and powerful approach. It allows you to select, combine and use the methodology’s inherent flexibility to create an approach that is perfectly suited for one’s own research plans.

This article focuses on a particular aspect of media capture theory: advertising as a means of financing media outlets in a transitional democracy such as Iraqi Kurdistan. Its aim is to investigate the extent to which various social actors attempt to capture news media by choosing to provide financial support to some and withhold it from others through their allocation of advertisements and announcements. We report on the findings of a quantitative content analysis of the ads published in six major weekly and daily newspapers in the five-year period from 2014 through 2018 (N = 11,112). These findings provide information on the linkages between media organizations and powerful social actors within a nontransparent media environment, and shed new light on the nature and profile of both “partisan” and “independent” media outlets. We conclude by discussing the implications of these results with regard to the state of media capture in Iraqi Kurdistan.

This article focuses on a particular aspect of media capture theory: advertising as a means of financing media outlets in a transitional democracy such as Iraqi Kurdistan. Its aim is to investigate the extent to which various social actors attempt to capture news media by choosing to provide financial support to some and withhold it from others through their allocation of advertisements and announcements. We report on the findings of a quantitative content analysis of the ads published in six major weekly and daily newspapers in the five-year period from 2014 through 2018 (N = 11,112). These findings provide information on the linkages between media organizations and powerful social actors within a nontransparent media environment, and shed new light on the nature and profile of both "partisan" and "independent" media outlets. We conclude by discussing the implications of these results with regard to the state of media capture in Iraqi Kurdistan.

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The literature illustrates how media research on the energy question is characterized by a limited focus on separate energy options, resulting in a lack of research into the diversity of and mutual relations between various energy options. This paper reports on a quantitative content analysis of eight Belgian newspapers (N=1181), focusing on whether certain energy options are systematically more covered in certain regions, types of newspapers and/or types of newspaper sections. The results show that five energy options dominate the debate and that there are minimal differences per region, but remarkable differences between types of newspapers and newspaper sections.

Ideological pluralism in Flemish news media outlets: the Belgian government formation 2010-2011 Ideological pluralism in Flemish news media outlets: the Belgian government formation 2010-2011 On the basis of a critical discourse analysis of four crisis moments during the Belgian government formation 2010-2011, this paper aims to reveal the ideological assumptions and preferences in the editorializing coverage of four Flemish news media outlets, with a specific focus on the ethnic-linguistic and socio-economic fault line. The analysis demonstrates a certain level of ideological pluralism between the selected newspapers on the one hand and an alternative online news medium on the other, by distinguishing two ideological cultures, respectively characterized by depoliticizing and politicizing discursive strategies.