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This study incorporates the issue-ownership concept into the aggregate president in approval literature. A content analysis of media coverage from the Reagan through Clinton administrations of four party-owned issues--Social Security or Medicare, environmental protection, national defense, and size of government--demonstrates that when the agenda is dominated by issues on which the president's party enjoys credibility, approval increases, controlling for the typical economic and event variables. Similarly, increased coverage of issues owned by the opposition party leads to decreased approval, all things equal. Thus, when the media primes a party-owned issue, the public responds by evaluating the president consistent with his credibility on the issue. These relationships are robust across the typical functional forms used to model approval. Keywords: presidential approval; issue ownership; priming; media coverage

The paper seeks to establish a simple three-stage argument. It is argued, first, that the critical proximate economic source of party preferences is heavily valenced--that what matters most to voters are the relative economic management capabilities of the main rival parties. Second, these 'valenced' perceptions of party competence are themselves derived primarily from voters' economic evaluations, and in particular from their personal prospective evaluations. Third, these evaluations derive more from the way in which the media, and in particular television news programs, present economic developments than they do from 'objective' changes in the 'real' economy. These propositions are tested against monthly time-series data drawn from the United Kingdom during the first period of New Labour government 1997-2001. The data set employed combines aggregate-level opinion poll data, 'objective' measures of the macroeconomy, and data derived from a systematic content analysis of television news coverage of the economy. The empirical results provide preliminary support for all three propositions.

This article discusses the political consequences of changes that have occurred in the news media since the 1990s, focusing on the potential of new media to enhancing civic engagement through communication. Citizens' concerns over such issues as lifestyle, human rights and the environment have influenced the political agenda; non-governmental organizations also exercise influence over the government and politics; political parties have responded with slick marketing campaigns; the media focuses on less serious and more sensational news stories.

This article discusses commercialization of mass media and its impact on party politics in Italy, as compared to Europe. The secularization and private ownership of newspapers and television in Italy has become a profitable business, and many politicians are shareholders in these businesses, raising ethical questions about the subjectivity of the news.

Editor Joann Byrd talks about the insights she gained after receiving a letter from a reader questioning why her newspaper did not cover minor political candidates in the 1984 presidential elections. She believes that the failure to cover minor candidates violates the press' duty to defend free speech, independent thinking and the underdog. It also deprives voters of a democratic process based on ideas and a fully informed public.

Japanese political reporters, based at Nagatacho, have been reduced to the role of messengers, passively conveying information from the most important Diet members to the newsreading public. The main sources of information are limited to the few top Diet members, who cultivate relationships with a select group of reporters, thereby influencing public opinion in their favor. Such reporting is biased as it fails to cover the political parties in the opposition. Intimacy with the key Diet members preclude the journalists from writing objective and nonpartisan reports.

What did Newt Gingrich do to deserve such awful coverage? Although the Contract With America moved at unprecedented speed through the House of Representatives, statements about Gingrich from national reporters [...]

Media intrusion theory holds that the advent of electronic media, especially television, has accelerated or even precipitated party decline. This is evidently borne out by the declining membership of, and weakening support for, the two major Australian parties which each enthusiastically embraced new forms of political communication. However, 'media intrusion' has arguably strengthened rather than weakened Canada's already frail brokerage parties. This different experience may be explained by the dissimilar legislative, federal and media environments in which Canadian and Australian political parties operate. Curiously, although the new forms of political communication have had different impacts, these have triggered changes in Australian political parties which have increased their resemblance to their Canadian counterparts.

The various factions in the Russian parliamentary elections have the support of different sections of the media, which will have an impact on voting. The Russian Federation Communist Party is using radio stations broadcasting on medium wave, as the oligarchs have acquired the FM wave. The bloc led by Anatoly Chubais is using the Effective Policy Foundation, the Group of Video International (VI) Companies and others. The bloc led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky is using agitation and new advertising techniques, including television advertisements.

A scientific contribution to the process of self- reflection by the press, which tries to find whether, and in which way Fortuyn was demonized, is presented. Similarities and differences in the treatment of Pim Fortuyn and the extreme right are studied.

The relationship between three types of political personalization, namely institutional, media and behavioral, is studied by means of a comparative analysis of the Israeli case (1949-2003). It shows that political personalization can be better understood by employing Wolfsfeld's politics-media-politics (PMP) model which states that institutional personalization leads to personalization in the media which in turn leads to personalization in the behavior of politicians.

A study is conducted to analyze if the Flemish media contributed to the success of the Vlaams Blok by emphasizing the themes of the party. The analysis shows that especially immigrant topics and crime receive extensive and growing media attention, and time series analysis shows that the rise parallels the electoral growth of the Vlaams Blok.

The Nepalese government is caught in a bloody war against the Maoist Party since the collapse of peace talks in November 2001, since the government introduced a State of Emergency, which had a devastating impact upon the media. The International Press Institute launched a mission to Nepal and met the minister of information, who agreed to improve communications between the government and media, thus cementing the relationship between IPI and Nepalese journalists.

ON THE MEDIA Lani Guinier is back. Media outfits of all stripes have been mentioning her, from NPR to Fox News. We just love precedents, and the Ashcroft hostilities sure […]

Research is presented concerning the negative and positive framing of the newspaper coverage which was given to the Deaf President Now political movement. The written and photographic coverage is evaluated.

The 'On Balance (OB)' publication of the NMA is found to employ selective reporting of its findings. OB reported that the Liberals obtained more media coverage than the New Democrats. It failed to stress, however, that the Liberals did not receive a greater positive coverage.