ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information that makes it easier to understand the media's role in populist political communication. It identifies three cross-national patterns of how the news media cover populist parties across Europe: from limited to increased coverage spurred by rising poll figures; negative coverage that is not necessarily negative for populist actors; and critical coverage of populist actors out of concern for democracy. The term media populism lends itself to three distinct perspectives: populism by the media, populism through the media, and populist citizen journalism. In order to minimize dependency on journalism as a dissemination medium, the Front National in France has expanded its website and created a highly professional information hub for interested visitors. The right-populist Freedom Party of Austria has increasingly turned to new web-based media as its main channels of political communication. Swedish scholar Andersson has argued that such antagonism is mitigated if a neo-populist party itself becomes part of the establishment due to electoral success.
