Dissertation Information for Vincent Fitzgerald NAME: - Vincent Fitzgerald
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- Rutgers University (USA) (1995)
ADVISORS: - Robert Kubey
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Cliff Zukin - Montague Kern - Richard F. Hixson
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: Television network newscasts and their use of public opinion polls in United States presidential campaigns (1968-1992)
Abstract: The use of public opinion polls by the news media during political campaigns has most often been conceptualized in terms of the polls' effect on the electorate and candidates. As such, public opinion theories tend to focus on these two groups while neglecting the role that the media play in the process. This research examines the role of the media in presenting pre-election polls rather than the effects of polls on the public and/or political candidates.
A longitudinal content analysis of the evening network television newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC during U.S. presidential general election campaigns in 1968, 1972, 1980, 1988, and 1992 was conducted. The use and presentation of polls by the networks was analyzed in order to determine changes in poll reportage from 1968 to 1992, changes in poll reportage as individual campaigns progress and election day nears, and to gauge the proportional relationship of polls and poll-related report coverage to non-poll presidential campaign coverage. This last aspect helps to clarify whether public opinion polls and poll-related reports broadcast during presidential campaigns are driving out issue-oriented coverage of the candidates during network newscasts.
Results show that the use of pre-election polls broadcast by the television networks has more than tripled from 1968 to 1992 and that poll results are more likely to be broadcast in the three weeks immediately preceding election day than during any other period of a presidential general election campaign. Conversely, issue coverage is less likely to be broadcast during the crucial final weeks of a campaign than during any other period. Additionally, both poll results and Electoral College projections have been moved closer to the beginning of the newscasts in the more recent campaigns. Results also show that the percentage of coverage devoted to poll-related reports progressively increased from 1968 to 1992 while the percentage of issue coverage by the networks proportionally decreased from 1968 to 1988 before slightly increasing in 1992.
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calculated 2008-01-31 06:10:14
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