Slovakia: Human Assisted Content Analysis of the print press coverage of corruption

This report focuses on Slovakia’s print press, testing the correlations between press freedom, press readership and levels of corruption in the country. Corruption is a long-term structural problem in Slovakia: in a 2013 Eurobarometer survey it was perceived as a widespread problem by 90% of Slovak respondents; that’s precisely why in recent times the Slovakian Government introduced specific anti-corruption measures.

This report highlights some previously unknown specificities of reporting on corruption in Slovakia by selecting four daily print newspapers ("Hospodárske noviny", "Nový Čas", "Pravda", "Sme") for an in depth human assisted content analysis in the period 2004-2013. Mainly through tables, the study makes clear the differences in coverage of corruption among news outlets; the variations in coverage of corruption over time, and the national specificities in coverage of corruption.

ANTICORRP is a large-scale research project financed by the European Commission in order to investigate those factors that promote or hinder the development of anti-corruption policies. Co-funded by the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development of the European Union, the project started in March 2012 and ended in 2017, involving 20 research groups in 15 countries.

This report was published together with a “twin” computer assisted content analysis focused on the same period and newspapers.