Context and Sources in Broadcast Television Coverage of the 2004 Democratic Primary

Abstract

This study examined context variables (reporter speculation, multiple viewpoints, and story emphasis) and source variables (anonymous sources and source transparency) in broadcast television coverage of the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries. Primary coverage was compared with coverage of other major stories. Primary coverage was no more focused on conflict than were other major stories. Primary coverage was, however, more focused on winners and losers, and primary reporting was more likely to include reporter speculation. Primary stories were just as likely to include anonymous sources as were other major stories, but primary stories also were more likely than other major stories to fully identify sources.

Bringing Out the Hook

“…Others might guess that fear of Clinton-family retribution explains this increase in unattributed exit chatter, a possibility that is by its nature more difficult to assess. Another potential explanation is changes in media norms and routines that, by 2008, allowed reporters greater interpretive and speculative freedom (see Patterson 1994; Steele and Barnhurst 1996; Zeldes, Fico, and Lacy 2008). 12 Against the backdrop of intensifying horse race coverage, some research suggests that reporters themselves have become a main source of assertions in news coverage of primary elections (Benoit, Stein, and Hansen 2005).…”