By using this website you allow us to place cookies on your computer. Please read our Privacy Policy for more details.
Publication Date: February 2001
Publisher: Annenberg School of Communications (University of Southern California). Norman Lear Center; Alliance for Better Campaigns; Ford Foundation
Author(s): Matthew Hale; Martin Kaplan
Research Area: Media, telecommunications, and information; Politics
Type: Report
Abstract:
Most Americans say they get most of their news from local television. We analyzed the local news programs watched by most Americans to find out what news they received on the 2000 general election. We analyzed local broadcast television coverage on 74 stations in 58 markets in the last 30 days before the election to see whether a White House panel's recommendation of airing five minutes of candidate centered discourse (CCD) a night had an impact. We found that the 74 stations ran an average of 74 seconds of CCD per night. The average sound bite was 14 seconds; 55 percent of the stories focused on strategy; 24 percent focused on issues; and less than 1 percent were adwatch stories.