The watchdog role in the age of Big Tech – how news media in the United States and Germany hold Big Tech corporations accountable

Figures & data

Table 1. Overview of news outlets. Newspapers sampled for comparison, n = 920.

Newspaper	Country	Leaning	n
The New York Times	United States	Center-Left	230
USA TODAY	United States	Center-Right	230
Süddeutsche Zeitung	Germany	Center-Left	230
Die Welt	Germany	Center-Right	230

Table 2. Watchdog role indicators.

Watchdog Role	Indicators
Information on Judgements* (agreement = .76, s-lotus = .88)	Information on judicial processes or investigations on Big Tech
Questioning de facto powers (by the journalist) (agreement = .83, s-lotus = .92)	The journalist questions the actions or truthfulness of Big Tech
Questioning de facto powers (by the source)* (agreement = .56, s-lotus = .76)	The source questions the actions or truthfulness of Big Tech
Criticizing de facto powers (by the journalist) (agreement = .83, s-lotus = .92)	The journalist criticizes Big Tech
Criticizing de facto powers (by the source)* (agreement = .6, s-lotus = .81)	The source criticizes Big Tech
Denouncing de facto powers (by the journalist) (agreement = .87, s-lotus = .93)	The journalist denounces or calls out Big Tech
Denouncing de facto powers (by other source)* (agreement = .6, s-lotus = .81)	The source denounces or calls out Big Tech
External Investigation (agreement = .87, s-lotus = .93)	External investigation conducted on Big Tech by another entity or institution
Conflict and/or Confrontation (agreement = .97, s-lotus = .98)	The article positions the journalist in direct conflict or confrontation with Big Tech
Investigative Reporting (agreement = .97, s-lotus = .98)	Investigation conducted by the respective outlet

Note: * marks indicators of a detached orientation (Márquez-Ramírez et al., 2020).

Table 3. Watchdog role performance and cited sources in news coverage. The index was created by dividing the number of present indicators by the total number of indicators and ranges from 0 to 1.

	Watchdog Role Performance		Cited Sources
n = 920	Detached Index M (SD)	Interventionist Index M (SD)	Corporate M (SD)	Political M (SD)	Regulator M (SD)
Total	.18 (.22)	.09 (.16)	71.41% (45.21%)	10.76% (31.01%)	14.57% (35.29%)
NY Times	.24 (.25)	.09 (.15)	87.39% (33.27%)	12.61% (33.27%)	22.61% (41.92%)
USA TODAY	.17 (.22)	.06 (.13)	82.17% (38.36%)	10.00% (30.1%)	11.74% (32.26%)
Süddeutsche Zeitung	.16 (.19)	.1 (.17)	56.96% (49.62%)	11.74% (32.26%)	12..74% (32.77%)
Die Welt	.16 (.21)	.11 (.18)	59.13% (49.26%)	08.7%- (28.23%)	11.74% (32.26%)

Table 4. The presence of individual indicators across outlets, in percentage (n = 920).

Indicators	All	New York Times	USA TODAY	Süddeutsche Zeitung	Die Welt
1 Information on Judgements*	20.32%	28.26%	15.21%	20.87%	17.00%
2 Questioning de facto powers (journalist)	16.74%	14.78%	16.52%	17.39%	18.26%
3 Questioning de facto powers (source)*	20.11%	25.21%	26.10%	14.78%	14.35%
4 Criticizing de facto powers (journalist)	10.54%	09.13%	06.52%	11.74%	14.78%
5 Criticizing de facto powers (source)*	26.63%	33.04%	21.74%	25.21%	26.52%
6 Denouncing de facto powers (journalist)	08.15%	10.00%	01.74%	10.87%	10.00%
7 Denouncing de facto powers (source)*	16.96%	25.65%	15.65%	12.61%	13.91%
8 External Investigation	06.85%	08.26%	06.09%	06.52%	06.52%
9 Conflict and/or Confrontation	00.87%	00.87%	00.00%	00.87%	01.74%
10 Investigative Reporting	01.52%	02.61%	01.30%	01.30%	00.87%

Note: * marks indicators of a detached orientation (Márquez-Ramírez et al., 2020).

Figure 1. Relative visibility of Big Tech Corporations in news coverage.

Figure 2. Over-time development of the interventionist and detached watchdog role orientation, indexed on a scale of 0–1.

Figure 3. Over-time patterns of cited sources in news coverage on Big Tech across Germany and the United States (2000–2020).

Table

	New York Times	USA TODAY	Die Welt	Sueddeutsche Zeitung
2002-01-01	4	3	3	4
2002-02-01	–	–	3	1
2002-03-01	1	5	1	1
2002-04-01	4	2	3	2
2002-05-01	1	2	–	1
2002-06-01	–	2	1	1
2002-07-01	1	4	6	1
2002-08-01	–	3	1	3
2002-09-01	4	–	–	3
2002-10-01	1	–	4	1
2002-11-01	5	1	1	3
2002-12-01	2	1	–	2
2004-01-01	1	3	2	5
2004-02-01	–	1	–	1
2004-03-01	3	2	2	1
2004-04-01	–	–	–	1
2004-05-01	1	2	3	1
2004-06-01	1	–	2	–
2004-07-01	6	3	5	4
2004-08-01	3	6	1	3
2004-09-01	2	1	1	3
2004-10-01	2	2	1	1
2004-11-01	2	–	4	3
2004-12-01	2	3	2	–
2006-01-01	–	2	3	4
2006-02-01	2	3	3	1
2006-03-01	4	3	5	4
2006-04-01	2	3	–	2
2006-05-01	–	1	–	–
2006-06-01	1	–	1	2
2006-07-01	6	2	5	4
2006-08-01	1	1	1	2
2006-09-01	1	1	–	1
2006-10-01	2	6	3	–
2006-11-01	3	–	1	1
2006-12-01	1	1	1	2
2008-01-01	4	3	2	1
2008-02-01	4	6	7	2
2008-03-01	–	1	1	3
2008-04-01	1	1	2	2
2008-05-01	2	2	6	3
2008-06-01	2	2	4	2
2008-07-01	1	1	1	3
2008-08-01	1	1	–	1
2008-09-01	2	1	–	4
2008-10-01	4	4	–	2
2008-11-01	1	–	–	–
2008-12-01	1	1	–
2010-01-01	1	3	5	1
2010-02-01	2	1	3	1
2010-03-01	1	–	–	1
2010-04-01	2	3	2	2
2010-05-01	2	2	1	3
2010-06-01	3	2	2	1
2010-07-01	3	2	1	3
2010-08-01	5	–	2	3
2010-09-01	1	–	1	1
2010-10-01	2	4	3	1
2010-11-01	1	2	2	4
2010-12-01	–	4	1	2
2012-01-01	–	1	–	2
2012-02-01	1	4	–	4
2012-03-01	2	2	1	2
2012-04-01	4	1	1	4
2012-05-01	3	3	2	1
2012-06-01	1	3	4	4
2012-07-01	1	2	1	–
2012-08-01	1	2	4	1
2012-09-01	5	2	4	1
2012-10-01	2	3	1	1
2012-11-01	2	–	2	2
2012-12-01	1	–	3	1
2014-01-01	1	–	4	2
2014-02-01	5	1	3	2
2014-03-01	1	2	–	2
2014-04-01	–	2	3	1
2014-05-01	4	–	3	1
2014-06-01	5	5	1	2
2014-07-01	1	2	1	3
2014-08-01	1	2	2	3
2014-09-01	1	2	3	1
2014-10-01	2	3	2	1
2014-11-01	1	2	–	3
2014-12-01	1	2	1	2
2016-01-01	1	1	1	2
2016-02-01	2	3	3	2
2016-03-01	5	4	4	2
2016-04-01	–	4	3	2
2016-05-01	4	2	3	1
2016-06-01	2	–	1	3
2016-07-01	–	1	–	1
2016-08-01	–	–	2	2
2016-09-01	2	2	1	3
2016-10-01	2	2	–	2
2016-11-01	3	2	2	–
2016-12-01	2	2	3	3
2018-01-01	3	1	1	2
2018-02-01	2	2	1	3
2018-03-01	3	9	2	3
2018-04-01	3	2	4	2
2018-05-01	1	1	1	2
2018-06-01	2	3	1	2
2018-07-01	3	3	4	1
2018-08-01	2	–	3	1
2018-09-01	–	–	1	2
2018-10-01	1	2	3	1
2018-11-01	2	–	2	–
2018-12-01	1	–	–	4
2020-01-01	1	2	1	3
2020-02-01	1	–	6	3
2020-03-01	3	-	–	–
2020-04-01	1	4	2	2
2020-05-01	1	1	1	1
2020-06-01	4	2	1	4
2020-07-01	–	–	2	1
2020-08-01	2	1	3	1
2020-09-01	4	5	1	2
2020-10-01	–	2	2	3
2020-11-01	2	4	2	–
2020-12-01	4	2	2	3

Table

Watchdog Role
Information on Judgements	This indicator serves to bring the public up to date on legal challenges and legal investigations that Big corporations face. The news story includes information on judicial processes or investigations against one or multiple Big Tech corporations.
Questioning Big Tech (by the journalist)	Please only code the presence of this indicator if the journalist themselves, by means of statements and/or opinions, questions what corporations say or do. This involves implying an attitude of doubt or skepticism or uncertainty towards corporate actions, statements, issues or topics.
Questioning Big Tech (by other source)	The article, through quotes, statements and/or opinions given by someone other than the journalist questions Big Tech corporations’ actions or statements. This involves implying an attitude of doubt or skepticism or uncertainty towards either political elites or corporations.
Criticizing Big Tech (by the journalist)	This indicator involves an assertion or reference from the journalist, in which they negatively judge or condemn corporate practices of Big Tech corporation(s). Please indicate ‘yes’, when the journalist themselves express, through statements or opinions, their criticism of corporate practices and negatively judge or condemn Big Tech.
Criticizing Big Tech (by other source)	Please indicate whether the text contains criticism of Big Tech corporation(s)’s corporate practices in form of quotes, statements and/or negative opinions given by someone other than the journalist.
Denouncing Big Tech (by the journalist)	Assertion or reference from the journalist, in which they accuse or make evident something hidden, not only illegal, but also irregular or violating or inconvenient concerning the corporate practices of Big Tech.
Denouncing Big Tech (by other source)	Quotes and/or testimonies from people other than the journalist, that account for, accuse or evidence something hidden, not only illegal, but also irregular or violating or inconvenient, concerning corporate practices of Big Tech. Please also code ‘yes’ if the journalist chose to paraphrase the source denouncing Big Tech.
External Investigation	The news story includes investigations on corporate practices of Big Tech that were not carried out by the journalist or the newspaper, such as administrative, specialized/academic research, among others- but that they cover extensively.
Conflict and/or Confrontation	This indicator captures potential conflict between the journalist and the Big Tech corporation, in form of, e.g., physical confrontation, threats or harassment, or veto. This indicator may also indirectly invoke someone or something from a Big Tech corporation as an opponent.
Investigative Reporting	Presence of investigative reporting, where the journalist informs on abuse of power or wrongdoing of the Big Tech corporation based on extensive inquiry and research. This indicator goes beyond the reliance on leaks and secondary sources of information but refers to i.e., an independent review of legal documents, public records, or direct observation.
Cited Sources
Business Elite	Does the news article make references to or directly quote corporate press releases of Big Tech? Does the news article make reference to or directly quote a company representative or spokesperson? Does the news article make reference to or directly quote representatives of business as a class (e.g., business analysts, or CBI)? Does the news article reference shareholders of a cooperation?
Political Elite	Does the news article make reference to or directly quote the government and/or ministers, and/or its opposition?
Regulator	Does the news article make reference to or directly quote regulatory bodies (such as the OFT or Competition Commission)? Does the news article make reference to or directly quote consumers that are represented by the OFT?
Corporation
Google (Alphabet)	Please indicate which Big Tech corporation(s) the newspaper article is mainly about. If the article mentions several Big Tech corporations, please indicate which corporation is/are more relevant in the context of this article and which corporation(s) retain the most attention:
Amazon
Microsoft
Apple
Facebook (Meta)
Administrative Variables
Date	Please fill in the date the article was published into the blank space in the following format: DD-MM-YYYY
ID	Please note down the unique ID of the article you are coding.
Outlet	Please indicate the news source of the article you are coding.

Márquez-Ramírez, M., Mellado, C., Humanes, M. L., Amado, A., Beck, D., Davydov, S., Mick, J., Mothes, C., Olivera, D., Panagiotu, N., Roses, S., Silke, H., Sparks, C., Stępińska, A., Szabó, G., Tandoc, E., & Wang, H. (2020). Detached or interventionist? Comparing the performance of watchdog journalism in transitional, advanced and non-democratic countries. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 25(1), 53–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161219872155

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Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available at Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/ge64b/?view_only=02837cd9092147ef8f55a608a95607ea.