In parliamentary as well as presidential systems there is much debate and concern about whether politics has become increasingly personalized. However, although there is a burgeoning literature about personalization, there is a marked lack of detailed empirical studies, especially in comparative perspective. Moreover, available research has shown that personalization is by no means a continuous, ever increasing trend. Instead, the degree of personalization is dependent on several factors, both contingent (e.g. a leader’s personality and popularity) and structural (e.g. electoral and media system). This paper will compare the degree of personalisation in the media coverage of the most recent general elections in the United Kingdom (2010) and Germany (2009). In doing so, it will firstly present an innovative framework for the identification and measurement of different forms of mediated personalisation; and secondly will provide much needed comparative empirical data for two parliamentary European democracies, allowing for identification of common, and possibly general, trends and divergence that may be due to systemic and cultural differences.
