The Nightly News Nightmare

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

By (author) Stephen J. Farnsworth, Robert S. Lichter

Not available to order

Publication date:

16 September 2010

Length of book:

246 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442200692

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

Praise for Second Edition: Farnsworth and Lichter conclude that their data point to a devastating failure on the part of major television networks' news programs on every dimension analyzed. The networks have limited candidates to eight-second sound bites, reduced the quality and quantity of election coverage, and thus shortchanged the candidates and the voters. Recommended [for] lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.