Courting Coverage: Rhetorical Newsworthiness Cues and Candidate-Media Agenda Convergence in Presidential Primaries

Abstract

What can political candidates do to make their agenda more enticing to journalists? This study argues that the answer lies in appealing to newsworthiness values—specifically conflict, human interest, and simplicity—via rhetorical newsworthiness cues. Using an original data set of announcement speeches and national news media coverage from 1984 to 2016, this study tests this argument and finds that candidates whose speeches include more anger and candidate-based appeals, which appeal to journalists’ preference for conflict and human-interest stories, have their issue agenda covered with greater proportionality. It concludes with a discussion of the implications of these incentives on the electorate.

Founding Narratives and Men's Political Ambition: Experimental Evidence from US Civics Lessons

“…Sears, Huddy, and Schaffer (1986) posit that people acquire stable affective responses to symbols through classical conditioning, which often occurs at a relatively early age. Political symbols, including ‘revolutionary symbols’ such as ‘Washington, Bolívar, Garibaldi, Lenin, Castro or Martin Luther King Jr.’ can ‘rivet our attention and evoke strong emotion’ (Sears 1993, 114). Similarly, Edelman (1985, 6) argues that a ‘symbolic event, sign or act’, alongside political figures like Barry Goldwater or Dwight Eisenhower, can evoke feelings including ‘patriotic pride, anxieties, remembrances of past glories or humiliations, promises of future greatness’.…”

“…As suggested by Pitkin's example of the British monarch, Sears's (1993) reference to revolutionary figures, Dietrich and Hayes's (2023) emphasis on civil rights icons such as Rosa Parks, and gender and politics scholars' study of ‘female firsts’ (Lombardo and Meier 2016; Verge and Pastor 2018), not all political figures carry the same symbolic weight. In the US, the Founding Fathers are a unique and important symbol.…”

“…Political symbols, including 'revolutionary symbols' such as 'Washington, Bolívar, Garibaldi, Lenin, Castro or Martin Luther King Jr.' can 'rivet our attention and evoke 2 We analysed as many of the 2016 and 2020 US presidential campaign announcement speeches that were available in online repositories (fifty-seven in total). Speeches from 2016 were taken from Scott (2022). Speeches from 2020 were collected from web searches.…”

“…We analysed as many of the 2016 and 2020 US presidential campaign announcement speeches that were available in online repositories (fifty-seven in total). Speeches from 2016 were taken fromScott (2022). Speeches from 2020 were collected from web searches.…”

Tell Us How You Feel: Emotional Appeals for Votes in Presidential Primaries

“…While the political psychology literature makes clear the powerful role that emotional appeals can play on a variety of forms of mass political behavior and public opinion, scholars of campaign communication have been slow to fully appreciate their influence. Instead, attention has more often gone to the candidates' issue agendas (Conway et al, 2015;Conway-Silva et al, 2018;Flowers et al, 2003;Hayes, 2010;Hayes & Lawless, 2016;Scott, 2021aScott, , 2021bVavreck, 2009), tone (Payne & Baukus, 1988;West, 2010), traits (Seifert, 2012), appeals to American values (Hart, 2000), and attacks on rivals (Benoit, 2007;Benoit & Rill, 2012). While these subjects are undoubtedly important, the content of candidates' emotional agendas has been relatively underevaluated (but see Borah, 2016;Brader, 2006;Jerit, 2004;Ridout & Searles, 2011).…”