The Nightly News Nightmare

Media Coverage of U.S. Presidential Elections, 1988-2008

By (author) Stephen J. Farnsworth University of Mary Washington, Robert S. Lichter

Publication date:

16 September 2010

Length of book:

246 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

245x167mm
7x10"

ISBN-13: 9781442200678

The Nightly News Nightmare, Third Edition, examines news coverage of presidential nomination and election campaigns from 1988 to 2008. The book focuses on changes in the amount, tone, and focus of news coverage in these different electoral contexts. In addition to network news, the authors examine online news, cable television, talk radio, candidate campaign discourse in these election years. Farnsworth and Lichter find that the news media, despite the wide variety of outlets, have consistent problems in terms of fairness and focus on substantive matters rather than the horse-race reporting of the latest polls. In addition to the extensive discussion of the 2008 campaign, the third edition offers far more discussion and evidence regarding the use of alternative media, including online content, in the most recent presidential election. The authors conclude that online news had many of the same problems found in mainstream news coverage.

1 The Media and Presidential Elections: Studying News Content
2 A Need-to-Know Basis? Covering Issues of Substance and the Horse Race
3 Who Elected You? Candidates versus Reporters
4 A Plague on (almost) All Your Houses: Fairness, Negativity, and Accuracy
5 "Nobody Does It Better"? Comparing Key Campaign News Sources
6 Maybe Next Year? The Future of Campaign Coverage

The whole media world is changing dramatically, but the problems stay the same-too much horserace and bias, too little substance and policy. Our national news watchdogs, Steve Farnsworth and Bob Lichter, use bark and bite to show us the truth.