Content analysis data of parties press releases collected during the 2009 and the 2013 federal exlection campaigns. The analysis is part of the cooperative project “Participation and Representation. A Comparative Study of Linkage Mechanisms between Citizens and the Political System in Contemporary Democracies (PartiRep-2)” funded by the Belgian Science Policy.
The analysis includes the press releases of the federal associations of the parties that were represented in parliament (CDU, CSU, SPD, FDP, Bündnis '90/Die Grünen and Die Linke) in 2009 and 2013, respectively, complemented by the AfD in 2013. The period of observation spans from 1 June to the day before the respective election day in 2009 (26 September) and 2013 (21 September). The analysis comprises 2,578 press releases, 1,542 of which whrere released during the 2009 election campaign, 1,036 were published during the 2013 campaign.
The press releases were analyzed with regard to the thematization of politics and policy issues, policy positions, candidates, parties, and coalitions as well as evaluations of candidates, parties, and coalitions.