The "Topics of Campaign Stories" figure is a dramatic illustration of what we all know to be true: that political journalists cover the sport of politics. I will use this space to build on their critique of campaign journalism, rather than critique them. Political reporters and editors should reflect on this captivating distillation of their work. Perhaps over time the editors at least will come to understand that we need a whole other set of journalists to be assigned who write for a readership made up of voters [whose preferences are summarized in a poll result in this story] rather than just the political junkies; we need journalists who are interested in issues, not polls, fundraising or personality quirks.

A much-needed original analysis that contrasts the media's framing of the presidential primaries with the type of coverage voters say they would like to see. "The press’ focus on fundraising, tactics and polling is even more evident if one looks at how stories were framed rather than the topic of the story. Just 12% of stories examined were presented in a way that explained how citizens might be affected by the election, while nearly nine-out-of-ten stories (86%) focused on matters that largely impacted only the parties and the candidates. ... All of these findings seem to be at sharp variance with what the public says it wants from campaign reporting." Excellent sourcing: supplemental materials include a detailed ... More »