Media & Society

Did George W. Bush really get an easier ride from the media in his first months in office?

Coming from press critics, the following may strike some as out of character: We believe journalism should be praised for its work in the wild epilogue of election 2000. One reason the American people seemed calm but fascinated during the spectacle--even as they witnessed sometimes disgraceful ta ...

As the audience for online campaign news has expanded—increasing fourfold over the past four years—it has gone more mainstream in its preferences and pursuits.

Introduction and Summary Campaign 2000 firmly established the Internet as a major source of election news and information. But as the audience for online campaign news has expanded — increasing fourfold over the past four years — it has gone more mainstream in its preferences and pursuits. A majority now cites convenience, not a desire […]

As we watch the Overtime Campaign of the 2000 election, the headache of reporting it continues. Election night, when the networks made erroneous projections about who had won, was probably the worst moment in the 50-year history of television coverage of politics. Newspapers that prematurely misc ...

Introduction and Summary Even with an uncertain conclusion, Campaign 2000 gets better grades from the public than most recent presidential contests. Fully 83% of voters say they learned enough from the campaign to make an informed choice — a larger percentage than expressed that view in surveys conducted in the days following the three previous […]

In the closing weeks of the presidential race, coverage was strikingly negative, and Vice President Al Gore got the worst of it. In contrast, George W. Bush was twice as likely as Gore to get coverage that was positive in tone, more issue-oriented and more likely to be directly connected to citizens.

Introduction and Summary Voters generally believe the media has been fair to both major presidential candidates, but more say the press has been fair to Al Gore than to George W. Bush. Fully 74% of voters say the vice president has gotten fair press treatment, while 65% say the same about Bush. Nearly six-in-ten voters […]

Quality sells, but commitment — and viewership — continue to erode.

If elections are a battle for control of message through the media, George W. Bush has had the better of it on the question of character than Albert Gore Jr., according to this study of coverage leading up to the GOP convention. But the public may not be getting - or believing - the message.