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Which U.S. Supreme Court cases are deemed newsworthy enough to appear on the front page of a major newspaper? Which are covered, but do not appear on the front page, and which are not covered at all? We answer these questions using a unique data set of newspaper coverage of Supreme Court cases in four newspapers from 1953 to 2004—a data set spanning more than 6,200 observations, 25 natural courts, and the tenure of three Chief Justices. We find that the overall proportion of Supreme Court cases covered has declined over this period (from a peak of nearly 100%), although the proportion of cases on the front page has remained more constant. The results of a selection model also suggest that, in the aggregate, coverage patterns on the front page are explained by established norms of newsworthiness, but coverage elsewhere in the paper often follows different criteria. When examining different newspapers in isolation, we also find that individual papers do vary, to a limited degree, in their selection of newsworthy cases. These results are important for those concerned about citizen information about politics, the relationship between the courts and the public, and media gatekeeping. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the relationship between the U.S Supreme Court and the press in relation to press coverage of the Supreme Court's rulings. Topics discussed include the book "Democracy in America" by Alexis de Tocqueville that focuses on the American democracy, the newspaper New York Time's coverage of Supreme Court's decision in case McQuiggin v. Perkins, and the role of press in Supreme Court case Shelby County v. Holder.

In this article, we develop and test an economic theory of Supreme Court news. We hypothesize that information about the Third Branch is newsworthy when it has lower production costs and qualities attractive to the audiences and advertisers desired by news organizations. We examine Supreme Court news in elite newspapers, television news broadcasts, and online news sources during the October 2008 and 2010 terms. The results of our quantitative analyses indicate that all three types of news outlets are more likely to provide content about Supreme Court decisions with substantive importance but vary in their responses to costs and qualities appealing to the lay audience. We conclude by discussing the similarities and differences among news outlets with regard to their selection of Supreme Court information as news content. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objectives We test whether Supreme Court media coverage (in terms of both overall volume and specific frames) is driven by Court actions, by factional battles on the Court, by the Court's interaction with other governmental actors, or by all three. Methods We link elements of the Spaeth Supreme Court Database and real-world Supreme Court and political events to Associated Press media coverage of the judicial branch over a nearly three-decade span. Content analysis of the media coverage is performed and empirical relationships between decisions, events, and coverage are analyzed using error correction modeling. Results We find that overall coverage of the Court is driven by the ideological nature of decisions rendered and by judicial retirements. Legal coverage of the Court is driven by issues of constitutionality. Political coverage of the Court is driven by majority size and judicial retirements. Conclusions The findings speak to the newsworthiness of Court action, factional battles on the Court, and moments where the Court interacts with outsiders. Elements of all three shapes the types of stories journalists tell and the ways in which said stories are told. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]