New York Times coverage of presidential campaigns

Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly

Volumn 82, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 356-376

  Benoit, William L ^a   Stein, Kevin A ^a   Hansen, Glenn J ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ELECTION; MEDIA ROLE;

NORTH AMERICA; UNITED STATES; WESTERN HEMISPHERE; WORLD;

EQUUS CABALLUS;

EID: 24044450240     PISSN: 10776990     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/107769900508200208     Document Type: Article

References (94)

1. Thomas A. Hollihan, Uncivil Wars: Political Campaigns in a Media Age (Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2001), 79.
2. Glenn J. Hansen, The Informational Function of Communicative Sources in Presidential Campaigns: Effects on Issue Knowledge and Character Evaluation (Ph.D. diss., University of Missouri, 2004).
3. Bernard C. Cohen. The Press and Foreign Policy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963), 13.
4. Maxwell E. McCombs and Donald L. Shaw, "The Agenda Setting Function of the Mass Media," Public Opinion Quarterly 36 (summer 1972): 176-87.
5. David Weaver, Maxwell McCombs, and Donald L. Shaw, "Agenda-Setting Research: Issues, Attributes, and Influences," in Handbook of Political Communication Research, ed. Lynda L. Kaid (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004), 257-82.
6. Walter R. Zakahi and K.L. Hacker, "Televised Presidential Debates and Candidate Images" in Candidate Images in Presidential Elections, ed. Kenneth L. Hacker (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1995), 100.
7. Marc Howard Ross, "Television News and Candidate Fortunes in Presidential Nominating Campaigns: The Case of 1984," American Politics Quarterly 20 (January 1992): 69-98.
8. Stephen J. Farnsworth and S. Robert Lichter, The Nightly News Nightmare: Network Television's Coverage of U.S. Presidential Elections, 1988-2000 (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), 53.
9. Thomas E. Patterson and Robert D. McClure, The Unseeing Eye: The Myth of Television Power in National Politics (New York: Putnam, 1976), 49;
10. see also C. Richard Hofstetter, Bias in the News: Network Television Coverage of the 1972 Election Campaign (Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1976).
11. See Farnsworth and Lichter, Nightly News Nightmare;
12. Daniel C. Hallin, "Sound Bite News: Television Coverage of Elections, 1968-1988," Journal of Communication 42 (spring 1992): 5-24;
13. Patterson and McClure, Unseeing Eye;
14. Catherine A. Steele and Kevin G. Barnhurst, "The Journalism of Opinion: Network News Coverage of U.S. Presidential Campaigns, 1968-1988," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 13 (September 1996): 187-209.
15. William C. Adams, "As New Hampshire Goes..." in Media and Momentum: The New Hampshire Primary and Nomination Politics, ed. Garry R. Orren and Nelson W. Polsby (Chatham, NJ: Chatham House, 1987),42-59;
16. Henry E. Brady, "Is Iowa News?" in The Iowa Caucuses and the Presidential Nominating Process, ed. Peverill Squire (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1989), 89-119;
17. Farnsworth and Lichter, Nightly News Nightmare;
18. Doris A. Graber, Processing the News: How People Tame the Information Tide, 2d ed. (White Plains, NY. Longman, 1988);
19. C. Richard Hofstetter and D. W Moore, "Television Coverage of Presidential Primaries," Journalism Quarterly 59 (winter 1982): 651-54;
20. Thomas J. Johnson, "Filling Out the Racing Form: How the Media Covered the Horse Race in the 1988 Primaries," Journalism Quarterly 70 (summer 1993):300-310;
21. Erika G. King, "Thematic Coverage of the 1988 Presidential Primaries: A Comparison of USA Today and the New York Times," Journalism Quarterly 67 (spring 1990): 83-87;
22. Thomas E. Patterson, The Mass Media Election: How Americans Choose their President (New York: Praeger, 1980);
23. Michael J. Robinson, "Media Coverage in the Primary Campaign of 1976," in The Party Symbol: Readings on Political Parties, ed. William Crotty (San Francisco, CA: Freeman, 1889), 178-91;
24. Michael J. Robinson and S. Robert Lichter, "'The More Things Change...': Network News Coverage of the 1988 Presidential Nomination Races," in Nominating the President, ed. Emmett H. Buell and Lee Sigelman (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1991), 196-212;
25. Michael J. Robinson and Margaret A. Sheehan, Over the Wire and on TV: CBS and UPI in Campaign '80 (New York: Russell Sage, 1983).
26. William C. Adams, "Convention Coverage," in The Mass Media in Campaign '84, ed. Michael J. Robinson and Austin Ranney (Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute, 1985), 18-23;
27. William L. Benoit, Kevin A. Stein, and Glenn J. Hansen, "How Newspapers Cover Presidential Nomination Acceptance Addresses," Newspaper Research Journal 25 (summer 2004): 83-89;
28. Patterson, Mass Media Election.
29. William L. Benoit and Heather Currie, "Inaccuracies in Media Coverage of Presidential Debates," Argumentation and Advocacy 38 (summer 2001): 28-39;
30. William L. Benoit, Glenn J. Hansen, and Kevin A. Stein, "News Coverage of Presidential Primary Debates," Argumentation and Advocacy 40 (spring 2004): 246-58;
31. William L. Benoit, Kevin A. Stein, and Glenn J. Hansen, "Newspaper Coverage of Presidential Debates," Argumentation and Advocacy 41 (summer 2004): 17-27;
32. Lynda L. Kaid, Mitchell M. McKinney, and John C. Tedesco, Civic Dialogue in the 1996 Presidential Campaign: Candidate, Media, and Public Voices (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2000);
33. Patterson, Mass Media Election;
34. Bryan H. Reber and William L. Benoit, "Presidential Debate Stories Accentuate the Negative," Newspaper Research Journal 22 (summer 2001): 30-43.
35. Doris A. Graber, Mass Media and American Politics, 3d ed. (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1989);
36. Kim Fridkin Kahn and Patrick J. Kenney, The Spectacle of U.S. Senate Campaigns (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999);
37. Shirley A. Serini, Angela A. Powers, and Susan Johnson, "Of Horse Race and Policy Issues: A Study of Gender in Coverage of a Gubernatorial Election by Two Major Metropolitan Newspapers," Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 75 (spring 1998): 194-204;
38. Darrell M. West, "Political Advertising and News Coverage in the 1992 California U.S. Senate Campaign," Journal of Politics 56 (November 1994): 1053-1075.
39. Keith Sinclair, "'Horserace' vs. 'Substance' in Coverage of Elections by British Prestige Press," Journalism Quarterly 59 (winter 1982): 598-602.
40. Malcolm W. Klein and Nathan Maccoby, "Newspaper Objectivity in the 1952 Campaign," Journalism Quarterly 31 (summer 1954): 285-96.
41. McCombs and Shaw, "Agenda-Setting."
42. John M. Russonello and Frank Wolf, "Newspaper Coverage of the 1976 and 1968 Presidential Campaigns," Journalism Quarterly 56 (summer 1979): 360-64, 432.
43. Doris Graber, "Press Coverage Patterns of Campaign News: The 1968 Presidential Race," Journalism Quarterly 48 (autumn 1971): 502-512.
44. Doris A. Graber, "Effect of Incumbency on Coverage Patterns in 1972 Presidential Campaign," Journalism Quarterly 53 (autumn 1976): 499-508.
45. Russenello, and Wolf "Newspapers Coverage."
46. Robinson and Sheehan, Over the Wire, 148
47. James Glen Stovall, "Foriegn policy Issue Coverage in the 1980 Presidential Campaign," Journalism Quarterly 59 (winter 1982): 531-40.
48. Guido H. Stempel and John W. Windhauser, "Newspaper Coverage of the 1984 and 1988 Campaigns," in The Media in the 1984 and 1988 Presidential Campaigns, ed. Guido H. Stempel and John W. Windhauser (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991), 13-66.
49. Gordon Mantler and David Whiteman, "Attention to Candidates and Issues in Newspaper coverage of 1992 Presidential Compaign, " Newspaper Research Journal 16 (summer 1995): 14-28.
50. Marion Just, Ann Crigler and Tami Buhr, "Voice, Substance, and Cynicism in Presidential Campaign Media," Political Communication 16 (January/March 1999): 25-44.
51. Lee Sigelman and David Bullock, "Candidates, Issues, Horse Races, and Hoopla: Presidential Campaign Coverage, 1988-1988," American Politics Quarterly 19 January 1991): 5-32.
52. Sigelman and Bullock, "Candidates," 21.
53. Daniel Riffe, Stephen Lacy, and Frederick G. Fico, Analyzing Media Messages: Using Quantitative content Analysis in Research (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1998).
54. Dave D'Alessio and Mike Allen, "Media Bias in Presidential Elections: A Meta-Analysis," Journal of Communication 50 (autumn 2000): 133-56;
55. citing Pamela J. Shoemaker and Stephen D. Reese, Mediating the Message: Theories of Influences of Mass Media Content (New York: Longman, 1991);
56. David Manning White. "The Gate-Keeper: A Case Study in the Selection of News," Journalism Quarterly 27 (3, 1950): 383-90;
57. and Martin Millspaugh, "Baltimore Newspapers and the Presidential Election," Public Opinion Quarterly 13 (spring 1949): 122-23.
58. Hollihan, Uncivil Wars, 79.
59. Maxwell McCombs, Setting the Agenda: The Mass Media Public Opinion (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2004) 50
60. Riffe, Lacy, and Fico, Analysing Media Mesages.
61. William L. Benoit, Seeing Spot: A Functional Analysis of Presidential Television Advertisements, 1952-199 (Wesport, CT: Praeger 1999);
62. William L. Benoit, John P. McHale, Glenn J. Hansen, Perini M. Pier, and John McGuire, Campaign 2000: A Fuctional Analysis of the Presidential Campaign at the Dawn of the New Millennium (Lanhan, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).
63. Bernard Berelson, Content Analysis for the Social Sciences and Humanities (Reading, MA: Adison-Wesley, 1952), 18;
64. Ole Holsti, Content Analysis in Communication Research (New York: Free Press, 1952), 116.
65. Jacob Cohen, "A Coefficient of Agreement for Nominal Scales," Educational and Psychological Measurement 20 (spring 1960): 37-46;
66. J. Richard Landis and Gary G. Koch, "The Measurement of Observer Agreement for Categorical Data," Biometrica 33 (3, 1977): 159-74.
67. Jacob Cohen, Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1988). We also tested for non-linear correlations but none was significant.
68. William L. Benoit, William T. Wells, Penni M. Pier, and Joseph R. Blaney, "Acclaiming, Attacking, and Defending in Nomination Convention Acceptance Addresses, 1960-1996," Quarterly Journal of Speech 85 (August 1999): 247-67;
69. Benoit et al., Campaign 2000.
70. Benoit, Seeing Spots;
71. Benoit et al., Campaign 2000. No general campaign debates were held in 1952, 1956, 1964, 1968, or 1972. In order to make the comparison between news coverage and debates equitable, we excluded years of newspaper coverage in which there were no debates when we compared the content of news with content of debates (that is, we excluded New York Times coverage of the 1952, 1956, and 1964-1972 campaigns when calculating the chi-squares which compared news with debates). Comparisons with other message forms employed all years for which we have data from news.
72. William L. Benoit and Kevin A. Stein, "A Functional Analysis of Presidential Direct Mail Advertising," Communication Studies (in press). The texts of every debate and every acceptance address are readily available, so the content analysis of these message forms represent a census sample. However, no resource has the census of direct mail brochures available and the University of Oklahoma's archive does not contain the population of all presidential television spots (the sample of TV spots employed here did rely on the Oklahoma archive;
73. see Benoit, Seeing Spots).
74. Sigelman and Bullock, "Candidates."
75. Farnsworth and Lichter, Nightly News Nightmare.
76. See, e.g., Robinson and Sheehan, Over the Wire.
77. Kathleen H. Jamieson and Paul Waldman, The Press Effect: Politicians, Journalists, and the Stories that Shape the Political World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 168.
78. Benoit et al., "Acclaiming";
79. Benoit et al., Campaign 2000.
80. Benoit, Seeing Spots;
81. Benoit et al., Campaign 2000.
82. See William L. Benoit, Penni M. Pier, LeAnn M. Brazeal, John P. McHale, Andrew Klyukovski, and David Airne, The Primary Decision: A Functional Analysis of Debates in Presidential Primaries (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002).
83. Benoit and Stein, "A Functional Analysis."
84. Roderick P. Hart, Campaign Talk: Why Elections are Good for Us (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000), 173.
85. Kathleen H. Jamieson, Paul Waldman, and James Devitt, "Mapping the Discourse of the 1996 US Presidential General Election," Media, Culture, & Society 20 (April 1998): 325.
86. Thomas E. Patterson, The Vanishing Voter: Public Involvement in an Age of Uncertainty (New York: Vintage, 2003), 63.
87. Jamieson and Waldman, The Press Effect.
88. Hallin, "Sound Bite News."
89. Steele and Barnhurst, "Journalism of Opinion."
90. Graber, Mass Media, 86.
91. Thomas E. Patterson, Out of Order (New York: Random House, Vintage Books, 1984), 61.
92. Joseph N. Capella and Kathleen H. Jamieson, Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 159.
93. Just, Crigler, and Buhr "Voice, Substance, and Cynicism in Presidential Campaign Media," 35.
94. Stephen D. Ansolabehere Shanto Iyengar, Adam Simon, and Nicholas Valentino, "Does Attack Advertising Demobilize the Electorate?" American Political Science Review 88 (December 1994): 829-38.