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Show Hinckley Journal of Politics 2005 PEJ also found the problem to extend beyond election coverage, as governmental affairs in general were only the topic of 17 percent of nightly network newscasts, half of what it was in 1987 (2004). These numbers come despite a vigorously contested Democratic primary anticipating a hotly contested general election, not to mention the war in Iraq. All of these issues should have provided ample fodder for substantial political newscasts. The gap is not being made up by the local news broadcasts, which, according to a study by the Martin Kaplan of the USC/Annenberg Lear Center (Kaplan and Hale 2001), aired only an average of six minutes and 20 seconds of political coverage a night during the last 30 days of the 2000 general election. A similar study done by the Lear Center in 2002 found a nightly average of one minute 29 seconds for that year's general election, with barely half of all newscasts airing any election stories at all (Lear Center 2002). This fits with a study done by the PEJ in that year that found that only nine percent of local news stories dealt with politics at any level (2002). Thus we see that across the board the sheer quantity of political news is quite low. Quality is a more slippery beast to pin down, but most data confirm that it is currently low. The single most glaring aspect of the degradation in quality is the appalling amount of "horse-race" coverage, discussion of poll results and campaigning tactics, instead of real issue or policy concerns. While this information may justifiably appeal to die-hard political junkies, it does not have any real value to the voter, as it contains no information that can actually be used in a political decision. Horse-race coverage has been a staple of television political reporting for some time. According to data from the Annenberg Public Policy Center, over 60 percent of broadcast news stories in the 1980, 1988, and 1992 elections were structured around a horse-race or strategy frame (1997). A CMPA (2004a) analysis of general election news found horse race coverage comprising 58 percent of network news stories in 1988 and 1992, dipping slightly to 48 percent in 1996. The networks' penchant for strategy-focused news has worsened in more recent years. The Project for Excellence in Journalism found that in the early press coverage of the 2000 campaign "only 13 percent of the stories produced were about things that would actually impact the American public if the candidates were elected" (2000b). It also found that less than 1 percent of stories explored the candidates' backgrounds and past voting records. This fits with another study which found that the networks employed a strategy frame for their political stories 70 percent of the time during the primaries (Falk and Aday 2000). The 2000 election coverage improved little as the campaign got under way. A second PEJ study, conducted during the period following the debates which is regarded by many as the most substantive part of the campaign, found that the press continued to focus on horse-race and strategy issues (2000b). Similar studies found that between 61 percent (Falk and Aday 2000) and 71 percent (CMPA 2000) of stories were strategy-oriented. Local news did a little better. According to the Lear Center study, 55 percent of stories on the local news in the 2000 general election employed a strategy-based story frame (2002). The trend continues, as in 2002, the follow-up Lear study found 47 percent of stories focused on strategy of horse-race. A CMPA study on the early 2004 Democratic primary coverage found that only 17 percent of primary election stories investigated the candidates' voting records, proposals, or stances on issues, as opposed to 71 percent of the stories focusing on poll numbers and behind-the-scenes tactics (2004a). A current ongoing Media Tenor study has had similar findings, with policy coverage in January and February staying below 25 percent of all stories on network news (2004). In addition to the low quality and quantity of news regarding elections, candidates are receiving very little direct exposure on broadcast television. In the 1960s, the average candidate sound bite on broadcast news was 42 seconds (Baum and Kernell 1999). In the 2000 election, this was down to nine seconds (CMPA 2000). Political conventions in 2000 saw their coverage on the three major networks drop by two thirds compared to 1980 (Alliance for Better Campaigns [ABC] 2000). Likewise, presidential debates, once hallowed as prime examples of the sweeping democratic potential of the television medium, now find themselves increasingly relegated to subscription cable and limited local coverage. In 2000, only two out of 22 television debates during the presidential primary campaign received any national network coverage (ABC 2002). As for the most recent election cycle, as of Feb. 2, 2004, only one out of the five Democratic presidential primary debates had received any sort of national network coverage. (Campaign Legal Center 2004). Also, in 2000 the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate found that only one-fifth of the gubernatorial, senatorial and congressional debates held were aired by a network-affiliated local television station (2001). Presidential addresses and press conferences have received declining network coverage as well. Traditionally, these events would unquestionably receive full coverage on all three major networks. However, at the end of the Reagan presidency, the networks began to refuse presidential requests for live coverage of their speeches, making the events less effective and increasingly rare. President Clinton had held only 15 of these conferences by the end of his second term in 1999, outdoing his predecessor President George H.W. Bush who held only eight, but still dwarfed by President Reagan, who staged 51 in his 8 years in office (Baum and Kernell 1999). Thus we see that not only has the overall presence of campaign coverage dropped from broadcast television, but also the most useful forms of political information-debates, issue-oriented news coverage, and speeches-have dwindled as well. 75 |
