How Does the Media Cover PoliticalCampaigns?

How does the media cover political campaigns? We take a novel approach to this question that produces clear results on direct relationships between key variables. Using data from a content analysis of media coverage of Minnesota’s 2000 senate campaign, we explore different trends in television and newspaper coverage while holding potentially confounding variables constant, such as media market norms and election competitiveness. We begin by comparing the coverage provided by four local television affiliates with that of the two major newspapers in the Twin Cities area. Our results show that while newspapers include more coverage of the campaign, the content of the coverage is not substantially different from television. We then take advantage of an ideal opportunity to explore the possibility of biased coverage by looking at the reporting patterns of the two ideologically distinct newspapers in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. We find that despite their clear partisan leanings, there is little evidence that either paper favored their endorsed candidate in their coverage of the campaign. We conclude by analyzing the impact of the media on public opinion with exit poll data collected on election day. This paper contributes to an on-going debate concerning the media’s role in campaign coverage by providing results from direct tests that are not confounded by factors such as election competitiveness, media market norms, and other effects generated by the temporal and geographic diversity inherent in multi-case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]