Media Sponsorship of the 2000 Primary Debates

A Case of More Is Less

“…In the context of campaign news, we know that profit incentives influence the extent of policy issue coverage (Dunaway 2008). In both general election debates and the primary process, commercial media sponsorship is becoming the dominant sponsorship model (Schroeder 2000). Intuitively, one might expect that commercial sponsorship of presidential debates could also affect the agenda’s attention to policy matters.…”

Who’s Citing Whom?

“…The study suggests that news professionals participating in commercially sponsored debates are more responsive to political elites during the source selection process. The finding holds implications for the ability of elites to frame debates, as these campaign events continue trending toward commercial sponsorship models (see Schroeder, 2000).…”

“…Relatedly, local journalists who do not contend with the same competitive pressures as news professionals on the national stage may operate under varied news norms-and that may be reflected in source selection. As more local moderators are replaced by national news professionals (Schroeder, 2000), it is important to understand whether these journalists function similar to one another in the debate context. Because local journalists hold greater proximity to their news audiences, their reliance on elite sources should be less frequent than those working for national media who, as Fallows (1996) suggests, have more in common with their elite sources than the public they serve.…”