An Evolving Media Universe
The ever-evolving media universe offers a wealth of sources
of information about the upcoming presidential
campaign. As a news consumer you should try to avail
yourself of a number of different sources, including from
time to time some you might not normally look at.
Read, view or listen with a critical eye and ear and
consider how well the story portrays the reality of a
situation or event.
Be a Discerning News Consumer
Think about where you get your news and
information from. There's a lot of it out there.
One can turn to the wire services, the networks, cable TV,
local TV, radio ranging from NPR to conservative talk radio,
newspapers, news magazines, opinion magazines, Internet-only
news organizations, social media, and individual or group
blogs. Further, the editorial side of a particular
news organization may encompass a wide range of talent,
including general assignment reporters, beat reporters,
editors, producers, photographers, videographers,
columnists, feature writers, and maybe even an editorial
cartoonist. The media are diverse—very diverse.
Conservative talk radio presents a very different picture of
the world than do mainstream media outlets such as the New York Times or the Washington Post than
does Joe or Jill's blog.
Among the factors that affect the quality and quantity of
news and election coverage a news outlet presents are the
available resources (financial, talent, equipment, and
commitment), the needs of advertisers and the audience,
established news practices, habits and conventions, the
peculiarities of individual media, and technology.
Thus a local newspaper has a set of strengths and weaknesses
that differ from those of a major network.
The Evolving Media Universe Has Inflicted
"Tectonic" Changes on Traditional Media with Consequences
for the Functioning of Our Democracy
In the old days, people typically turned to
television, radio, a newspaper or a magazine for news about
the campaign. On a television network, for example,
information is packaged in a variety of ways; there are the
flagship evening newscasts, morning shows, magazine
programs, Sunday morning newsmaker programs, occasional
specials, and so forth. Similarly, in a newspaper one
finds hard news articles, news analysis, long features,
lighter, "Style"-type pieces, photographs, columns,
editorials, and editorial cartoons.
Now, the Internet allows any motivated
individual to become a publisher. While some blogs are
first-rate, and on top of their subject matter, others don't
contribute much beyond echoing what is already out
there. In this information age, stories are linked to
and repeated, rapidly circulate in social media and the
blogosphere, and are minutely sliced and diced. Buzz
abounds. A story may garner headlines but ultimately
amount to little more than a "tempest in a teapot," while
another story of lasting significance receives scant
attention. Readers and viewers must assess the
veracity of a story as well as its importance.
A mid-2018 survey (>)
from the Pew Research Center found that 44% of U.S. adults
prefer to get news from television, 34% online, 14% radio
and 7% print. Another mid-2018 survey (>)
from Pew found that 68% of U.S. adults get news on social
media, although a majority expect that the news there is
inaccurate.
The Pew Research Center's "The
State of the News Media" presents the best picture of
the American news media. Past reports describe
"tectonic shifts taking place" and these continue to this
day. The Internet has driven much of the change in the
news media environment over the past two decades, and has
greatly facilitated the proliferation of information.
There are numerous Internet-only news organizations in
addition to strong, integral online presences developed by
traditional news organizations. Many popular sources
of news and information are relatively recent arrivals, and
new players continue to pop up.
As more and more people acquire their information from the screen of a smartphone or other device, news organizations must present information across different platforms and in different forms. They must develop content for Facebook, Twitter and other social media, and they produce versions for mobile devices ranging from smartphones to iPads and other tablets.
Print media in particular have been hit by a
loss of ad revenues. Pew's fact sheet on newspapers
summarizes, "The industry’s financial fortunes and
subscriber base have been in decline since the early 2000s,
even as website audience traffic has grown for many." A graph of total
circulation of U.S. daily newspapers shows the weekday
circulation has fallen to below what it was in 1940.
Advertising revenue decreased by 10% from 2016 to
2017. An increasing share of revenue is coming from
digital advertising, which accounted for about 31% of
newspaper advertising revenue in 2017. Pew reports
that 39,210 people worked on the editorial side at
newspapers in 2017.
Like newspapers, magazines have undergone
hard times recently, but they still form a valuable part of
the media universe. MPA ("The Association of Magazine
Media"), in its Magazine
Media Factbook, notes that "more adults 18-29 read
magazines (95%) than use Facebook (81%)" and that "magazine
media brands are the original (and still most powerful)
influencers." Even the very prominent Time Magazine has not
been immune from the difficult environment. Meredith
Corp. acquired Time, Inc. in Jan. 2018, only to sell the
magazine to Salesforce.com co-founder billionaire Marc
Benioff and his wife Lynne in Sept. 2018. The
respected conservative magazine The Weekly Standard, launched in 1995,
ceased publication at the end of 2018 due to a business
decision by owner billionaire Philip Anschutz and his
Clarity Media Group.
According to Pew, in 2017 there wre "830 local TV stations defined as 'news-producing stations' (i.e., stations that have a news director and are viable, commercial and English-language affiliates in the U.S.)." Further Pew reported that, "29,000 employees worked as reporters, editors, photographers or film and video editors in broadcast TV newsrooms in 2017."
Digital media have not been immune from
financial imperatives. In early 2019 BuzzFeed, Vice
Media, and HuffPost laid off many talented reporters.
The Problem
of "Fake News"
Social media such as Facebook and Twitter came of age as a
source of political information during the 2012
campaign. Facebook posts and tweets from candidates,
campaign staff and reporters covering the campaigns provide
interested voters with immediate, timely accounts.
What is missing is journalistic vetting. In a world
where verifiable truths must compete with alternative facts,
trust—a cornerstone of democracy—is undermined. While
social media offer the potential of creating a more informed
public, there is also the danger they are contributing to a
more misinformed public by magnifying and promoting the
spread of false and misleading information. This was
evident in the Russian influence campaign in the 2016
campaign, which a Jan. 2017 Intelligence Community
Assessment noted included "overt efforts by Russian
Government agencies, state-funded media, third-party
intermediaries, and paid social media users or
'trolls.'” Donald Trump's use of Twitter was a central
part of his 2016 campaign. There was no need for media
middlemen as voters could go direct to the source.
President Trump has made condemnations of
"fake news" one of the hallmarks of his presidency and
campaigns. In Feb. 2019 he went so far as to label the New York Times as "a
true enemy of the people;" other outlets even including FOX
News have come under criticism (+). Given the
voluminous reporting on Trump's scandals and record of
making false and misleading claims (>),
his efforts to delegitimize some news organizations are not
surprising.
Google, Facebook and Twitter have taken steps to reign in fake news with mixed results (1, 2). In March 2018 Google announced its Google News Initiative, pledging $300 million over three years to "elevate and strengthen quality journalism; evolve business models to drive sustainable growth; and empower news organizations trhough technological innovation (>)." Facebook's position is that, "Although we didn’t do enough to anticipate some of these risks, we’ve now made fundamental changes (>)." Facebook launched a three-part strategy for countering what it calls "false news": "removing accounts and content that violates our policies; reducing the spread of false news and inauthentic content; and informing our community with additional context (>)." An Oct. 2018 study of Twitter found that "of the 100 accounts that were most active in spreading fake news in the months before the [2016] election—the large majority clearly engaged in 'spammy behavior' that violates Twitter’s rules—more than 90 were still active as of spring 2018 (>).
Bias
Depending on the ideological biases of the publisher and
staff, news may be slanted toward or against various
viewpoints. Biases can be obvious or subtle, ranging
from use of loaded language to story selection.1
Conservatives have long derided the mainstream media for
presenting a one-sided picture of events. In Jan. 2019
the Pew Research Center reported "almost three-quarters of
Republicans feel misunderstood by the news media (>)."
On
the
other
hand
some
of
the
conservative
media
seem
downright
sycophantic;
FOX
News
has
been
described
as
"the
right-wing
echo
chamber."
Conservative
talk
show
hosts
such
as
Rush
Limbaugh
and
Sean
Hannity
talk
to
the
conservative
base.
For
all
the
Limbaughs
and
Hannitys
there
are at the same time the Rachel Maddows and Van
Joneses. (For more on bias see Media Bias/Fact
Check, Media
Research Center and Media Matters for
America).
Charges of liberal or conservative bias attract attention, but there are other biases. A major underlying bias at almost any news organization is simply limited resources. Newsroom diversity—including people of color and women—at all levels has increasingly become a concern. There is also the shiny object effect. In 2015-16 candidate Donald Trump's over-the-top style and pronouncements were a magnet for media attention, giving him a significant advantage over the 16 other candidates vying for the Republican nomination. Top tier major party candidates are guaranteed coverage, even of their trivial activities, while longshot or third party candidates typically have a hard time getting coverage, and what they do get may be dismissive. For example, in the Democratic primary, the Gabbard campaign claimed, "But consistently, Tulsi has been subject to disproportionately malign coverage by a corporate media that has tried to diminish and smear a candidate who is challenging conventional wisdom and powerful vested interests." [PDF]
From a Campaign's Point of View
The proliferation of media presents both a
challenge and an opportunity for campaigns as they seek to
communicate their messages. They must be able to
assess and respond to requests from national political
reporters as well as local bloggers. Some interviewers
throw softball questions and others take a more hard-nosed
approach. Campaigns not only reach out to the news
media through traditional press staff, they have new media
staff producing information, graphics, videos that
supporters will spread to friends and acquaintances through
social media.
Organization and Focus
A campaign unfolds along a fixed chronological path, with clear markers along the way, and there are only so many approaches a news organization can take in covering it. There are, however, huge differences in the quality and consistency of campaign and election coverage.
For many news organizations, the election may not be a
major focus until Election Day approaches. Stories
about the campaign appear haphazardly here and there.
A news organization can help its readers or viewers better
understand the campaign if it provides some order to its
coverage, for example by running its campaign stories in a
consistent place or on specific days of the week and by
using a recognizable graphic to draw attention to
them. Regular series of articles can also
helpful.
Candidate Profiles
At different stages in the campaign, news organizations may produce in-depth profiles of or interviews with the major candidates (+). Early feature-length magazine profiles can be particularly influential in helping a potential candidate or candidate establish credibility. After the field has taken shape, an outlet may run a set or series of candidate profiles, perhaps in the summer or a couple of months before the Iowa and New Hampshire contests. After the primaries are over, heading into the conventions, the soon-to-be nominees are profiled again. Finally, toward the close of the fall campaign, some news organizations may run a final profile. A noteworthy example from television is Frontline's "The Choice." Writing or producing a candidate profile is a real art. Consider what anecdote is used to begin the profile, who among the candidate's realm of acquaintances is interviewed, what images are used, and how well the profile captures the essence of the subject.
Issues
During the Fall 2016 presidential campaign there was shockingly little reporting on the issues. The Tyndall Report looked at network news coverage and concluded in an Oct. 24, 2016 post, "With just two weeks to go, issues coverage this year has been virtually non-existent (>)." The progressive Media Matters for America noted, "It seems clear that the media’s abandonment of issues coverage benefits Trump since his campaign has done very little to outline the candidate’s core beliefs. Clinton, by contrast, has done the opposite (>)." (See also: Kevin Bowe's film Democracy Through the Looking Glass. >)
It is relatively easy to report on campaign strategies and tactics, daily charges and countercharges and the latest poll results. More difficult is the task of explaining "the issues" in a fresh and understandable way. To untangle complex problems such as retirement security or tax policy, to lay out the candidates' proposals for addressing them, and to make it all relevant requires a great deal of research and thought from the reporter. Even after all that work, readers may, given human nature, skip over the well-written story on trade policy to find out about the most recent candidate controversy.
Polling
The media are firmly addicted to polls and
devote substantial resources to conducting them.
Political reporters argue that polling data can suggest
stories and provide useful insights. For example if
poll numbers show a candidate is weak among particular
demographic groups, the reporter might do a story about why
this is so. Sometimes however it seems that reporting
poll numbers is a substitute for providing explanation of
complex issues. Horserace coverage adds nothing to
understanding of the candidates and issues.
Looking at the polling results from 2016, the
national polls actually came fairly close to predicting the
outcome in terms of Clinton winning the popular vote, but
there were problems with state polls, which were off
significantly in many cases. The bottom line, as noted
in a Nov. 9, 2016 press release from the American
Association for Public Opinion Research, was, "The polls
clearly got it wrong this time and Donald J. Trump is the
projected winner in the Electoral College." In May
2017 AAPOR issued an excellent report which found, "National
polls were actually quite accurate. But at the state level,
the poll errors were quite large." In particular the
report notes an underestimation of support for Trump in the
upper Midwest. The report cites "real late change in
voter preference [to Trump] and the failure of many polls to
adjust their weights for the over-representation of college
graduates, who tended to favor Clinton in key states.” The
report also devotes considerable attention to addressing the
"Shy Trump" hypothesis, but finds no evidence to support it.
AAPOR - An Evaluation of 2016
Election Polls in the United States (May 4,
2017).
See also: www.PollingReport.com-2020
Accountability
One important function of the media is to
attempt to reign in politicians' and campaigns' tendency to
bend or distort the truth. Examples include Glenn
Kessler's "Fact Checker" blog at The Washington Post and FactCheck.org, a
project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the
University of Pennsylvania. Many news organizations
also run ad watches. These analyze the accuracy and
fairness of candidates' claims and may provide broader
information about where an ad fits in a campaign's
strategy. Ad watches have generally had a positive
effect. Campaigns now release their ads with
documented fact sheets. However, in the case of
emotion-tugging "feel good" ads, doing an ad watch may be
comparable to trying to dissect a soap bubble.
On the Scene
During the pre-primary and primary period,
major news organizations typically have a team of reporters
who are assigned to cover the major candidates; depending on
available resources top candidates may have dedicated
reporters. The networks establish a team of digital
journalists or embeds.
In the fall, the major party campaigns
have typically instituted a "protective pool" arrangement to
ensure that reporters will be on hand to cover any
activities by the candidate. The same kind of
arrangement is in place to cover the President at the White
House. The protective pool typically includes wire
reporters, a wire photographer, a TV crew (rotation among
ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and NBC), and a newspaper print
reporter. In 2016 the lack of a protective pool was a
source of considerable friction between the campaigns and
news organizations (+).
Donald
Trump
typically
flew
on
his
own
plane
without
the
travelling
press.
When
Hillary
Clinton
became
unsteady
on
Sept.
11
and
was
wisked
away,
the
media
were
kept
in the dark as to her whereabouts.
Media on Media
A number of news organizations have writers or reporters who focus specifically on media, or even on media and politics. This type of reporting can be quite enlightening, reminding the audience that news presents only a version of reality; it is the product of many individuals' efforts and perceptions. As another example, some newspapers have a weekly "Magazine Reader" type section which draws attention to feature articles; this can be an invaluable service for busy readers.
Endorsements
In the closing month of the campaign, many
newspapers make endorsements. One of the most
astounding aspects of the 2016 general election campaign was
the unprecedented and overwhelming number of newspaper
editorials favoring Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump.
Wikipedia found that Hillary Clinton received endorsements
of 243 dailies and 148 weeklies compared to 20 dailies and 6
weeklies for Trump (>).
Newspaper
endorsements
may
cause
a
significant
difference
in
less-publicized
races
where
voters
are
not
familiar
with
the
candidates
or
the
specifics
of
a
ballot
initiative,
but
at
the
presidential
level
they
clearly
do
not
have
much
impact.
That
is
not
to
say
a
newspaper
endorsement
has
no
effect.
When
candidates
are
striving
for
credibility
in
the
pre-primary
period
or
the
early
primaries
or
seeking
to
persuade
swing
voters
in the fall a newspaper endorsement may count for
something. A newspaper's endorsement is generally
decided by the editorial board, although sometimes the
publisher may weigh in. Some newspapers have a policy
of not making endorsements, at least at the presidential
level. Examining the reasoning used in various papers'
endorsements can offer clear insights into the candidates'
strengths and weaknesses.
Branding
Just as campaigns vie for support from voters, news organizations seek to gain loyalty of viewers, readers and web surfers. Promos on their own pages or broadcasts, or ads placed in other media, highlight programming and news personalities and establish brand identity.
Many Other Aspects
There are many other aspects of campaign coverage to consider. As an exercise, take a specific campaign event, such as a speech or a rally, and compare how a number of different news organizations cover it.
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
Salon.com |
Slate |
Drudge Report |
Newsmax.com |
TPM |
Wikipedia |
Daily
Kos |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
Huffington
Post Mashable |
BuzzFeed |
Politico ProPublica Patch Breitbart MinnPost |
The Daily
Beast |
The Texas
Tribune |
The
Daily Caller |
Vox |
- Taegan Goddard's Political Wire
- C-SPAN
- Road to the White House 2020
- Politico - 2020 Elections
- Axios
- 2020 Presidential Election
- FiveThirtyEight
-
2020 Election
- The Run (David Catanese/U.S. News)
- ABC News
- 2020 Elections
- FOX News - 2020 Presidential Election
- CBS News - Politics
- CNN - Politics
- NBC News -
Politics | First
Read
- Frontloading HQ
- Election Law Blog (Rick Hasen)
- 4president.org (Mike Dec)
- Sabato's Crystal Ball
- Polling
Report - Election 2020
- Daryl Cagle's Political Cartoonists Index
- AAEC - Today's Political Cartoons
- The Early States...
- Iowa
- Iowa Starting
Line (Pat Rynard)
4president.org-Iowa (Mike Dec)
Bleeding Heartland
Blog for Iowa
Des Moines Register-Iowa Caucuses
Iowa Public Radio-News
IPTV-Iowa Press
WHO 1040-"Mickelson in the Morning" | Simon Conway
KCCI-Politics
Caffeinated Thoughts (Shane Vander Hart)
Politics1.com-Iowa - Newspapers -
NewsLink | 50States.com
Iowa Newspaper Association
TV Stations
Radio Stations
- New Hampshire
- Boston
Globe-James Pindell
- Union
Leader-Politics / Kevin
Landrigan
"Granite Status"
- WMUR-Politics
- NHPR-Politics
- Concord
Monitor-Politics
NHJournal
Politics1-NH
- Newspapers-NewsLink
TV Stations
Radio Stations
- South Carolina
- The
State-Politics
The Post and Courier-Politics
FITS News-South Carolina
Politics1.com-South Carolina
political blogs - Newspapers -
NewsLink | 50States.com
South Carolina Press Association
TV Stations
Radio Stations
- Nevada
- The Nevada Independent
- General
- Newseum
- Today's Front Pages
- @romenesko
- Politico - Morning Media / Michael Calderone
- Mediate
- Columbia Journalism
Review
- The
Poynter Institute - Media News
- Nieman Journalism Lab
- NPR
-
David Folkenflik
- Newsonomics (Ken Doctor)
- Pew Research Center - "The State of the News Media"
- News Media Alliance (formerly Newspaper Association of America)
- The Association of Magazine Media
- National Association of Broadcasters
- NCTA - The Internet &
Television Association
- Nielsen
- Insights
- Quantcast - Top Sites
- Google Trends - 2020 United States Presidential Election
Article
Thomas Patterson. "Tale of Two Elections: CBS and Fox
News' Portrayal of the 2020 Presidential Campaign." Harvard
Kennedy School, Dec. 17, 2020.