Triangulating Temporal Dynamics in Multilingual Swiss Online News

TL;DR

This study analyzes Swiss multilingual online news over time using a triangulated approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods to reveal how linguistic and cultural contexts shape media narratives.

Contribution

It introduces a novel triangulated methodology for analyzing multilingual media dynamics, integrating quantitative metrics with qualitative insights in a complex national context.

Findings

Distinct temporal patterns across linguistic regions

Linguistic and cultural factors influence news reporting

Framework applicable to other multilingual media environments

Abstract

Analyzing news coverage in multilingual societies can offer valuable insights into the dynamics of public discourse and the development of collective narratives, yet comprehensive studies that account for linguistic and cultural diversity within national media ecosystems remain limited, particularly in complex contexts such as Switzerland. This paper studies temporal trends in Swiss digital media across the country's three main linguistic regions, French, German, and Italian, using a triangulated methodology that combines quantitative analyses with qualitative insights. We collected and processed over 1.7 million news articles, applying lexical metrics, named entity recognition and Wikidata-based linking, targeted sentiment analysis, and consensus-based change-point detection. To enable principled cross-language comparisons and to connect to theories of domestication and cultural proximity, we derive domestication profiles together with a proximity salience ratio. Our analysis spans thematic, recurrent, and singular events. By integrating quantitative data with qualitative interpretation, we provide new insights into the dynamics of Swiss digital media and demonstrate the usefulness of triangulation in media studies. The findings reveal distinct temporal patterns and highlight how linguistic and cultural contexts influence reporting. Our approach offers a framework applicable to other multilingual or culturally diverse media environments, contributing to a deeper understanding of how news is shaped by linguistic and cultural factors.