About: Covering Politics
Blue and Red All Over: Election Coverage in the United States
David Yepsen
Political Columnist, The Des Moines Register
Too often, political journalists fight the last war.
By looking at what happened in the last election, we can underplay or miss events and trends that will determine the outcome of the next. For example, the conventional wisdom in American politics right now says that the 2004 presidential election is going to be a close one.
That's based on the early national polls showing a close race and the fact the 2000 election was close. But I can make a case that this election could just as easily be an electoral blow-out for either George Bush or John Kerry.
Any incumbent president has enormous powers to influence events. At the same time, Kerry leads Bush in early polls in some key states like Florida and Ohio and has some big issues working toward his benefit. While my brain tells me this will be close, my gut tells me to forget 2000. This could just as easily be like 1980 or 1992, elections in which well-liked challengers knocked off unpopular sitting presidents who have developed images as fumblers. Bush still has a chance to turn this into a 1984 type of election, but his hopes of doing that are growing remote. Instead he must rely on making John Kerry "unlikable" to many Americans. His has become a wearisome presidency. It features wars on terrorism and job loss and those are hard things to turn around in a few months. Even if the economy does improve, it'll take time before voters start to feel it. And just last week, all the good news in the stock market this year was wiped out almost overnight by terrorist attacks in Spain.
Since more and more voters decide later and later what they're going to do in a voting booth, it's likely to be several months before one scenario or another becomes clear. There are several reasons why this election may not be like 2000. Things like:
Terrorism
Trade
Campaign money
Newcomers
Veterans
Debates
Inside @Journalism.org
> The Toolbox:
Tools on Covering Politics
Early in the summer of 2003, the Committee of Concerned Journalists held a brainstorming session with some of the top political journalists in the country. The meeting generated a substantial number of tools, techniques and strategies that we feel are useful for everyone from reporters covering the Presidential campaign trail to journalists on the city hall beat to those reporting on school board meetings.
See all the Tools that we have to offer.
Toolbox Web Tip: The Federal Election Committee website (www.fec.gov) offers a number of useful facts and statistics about election procedures in the United States. The site includes voter registration and turnout numbers from the 2000 Presidential election, FAQs about voting systems standards and a comprehensive overview of how the Electoral College works. Not only can this site be a quick reference for reporters, it can provide a comprehensive resource for citizens.
> Road Trip/News From The Traveling Curriculum:
Periodically, we'll be updating you on new additions and highlighting individual workshop modules from our Traveling Curriculum program. The Curriculum offers high quality training to print and broadcast organizations at very little cost. Best of all, the Curriculum comes right to your newsroom.
Find out more about the Traveling Curriculum.
This Issue's Traveling Curriculum Highlight: COVERING POLITICS
Reporting on government and campaigns is close to the heart of what journalists do. Yet how well, in an age of political alienation, do journalists do it? Are the old ways still relevant? Are there new approaches? Some media organizations have found politics a turnoff for audiences, and more of an obligation than a specialty for their staff. In the meantime, voter turnout continues to drop. Covering Politics is one of the Curriculum's newest modules specially designed to help news organizations plan and innovate their political coverage.
Learn more about the How to Cover Politics module.
> Speaking Of The Role of the Citizen:
Thomas Cashman Avila, Staff Director
Committee of Concerned Journalists, Washington, DC
After waves of journalistic scandals, what’s a citizen to do? Some have decided to simply walk away. But that’s not the answer. It’s time for non-journalist citizens to discover the role we have to play in preserving good journalism. Click here to read the entire piece.
> Research
e-Politics 2004: How Online Campaign Coverage Has Changed in Four Years
February 5, 2003
PEJ examines online political coverage at the top news Web sites during the heart of primary season. The study includes a content analysis of stories appearing on top sites as well as reviews of the campaign coverage pages.
Read the e-Politics 2004 Report
> Did You See?
"National media: Meet the Heartland"
Graeme Zielinski, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, February 28, 2004
"Beyond Red and Blue"
Robert David Sullivan, www.massinc.com
"Blogs have become part of media machine that shapes politics"
Lee Gomes, The Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2004
"Best Coverage of the U.S. Elections"
Mark Glaser, Online Journalism Review, December 11, 2003
"The schism in U.S. politics begins at home"
Bill Bishop, Austin American-Statesman, April 4, 2004
2004 Presidential Election Coverage
-- from the PEJ Daily Briefing Archive
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