Scholars have recently discovered the media as a new data source to measure parties' policy positions and issue emphases. A first cross-validation of media data with indicators obtained from party manifestos and expert judgments shows high convergence with regard to positions, but differences with regard to issue emphases (Helbling/Tresch, 2011). So far, no study has analyzed these differences in more detail, let alone offered any explanation of the varying salience of specific issues for particular parties when measured with different data. Against this background, I analyze parties' issue emphases in the media and in party manifestos during a national election campaign from the early 2000s in five European countries (UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland). I first examine in which context and for which party manifestos and media data produce the largest differences, and then suggest an explanatory framework drawing on theories of media selection and party strategies.
