Opportune Witnesses: An Analysis of Balance in the Selection of Sources and Arguments in the Leading German Newspapers' Coverage of the Census Issue

Abstract

In 1987 the German census became an important and controversial issue. A content analysis of the news coverage of the census controversy by leading German newspapers reveals the stronger the journalists favoured the census, the more their newspapers contained arguments in favour of the census. Sources which supported the newspapers' views (opportune witnesses) were selected for publication regardless of the individual direction of their arguments. Thus the readers of various newspapers were exposed to viewpoints from different sources to differing degrees. However, the argumentation of each source varied little in direction among the newspapers.