Local media coverage of Congress and its members : through local eyes / Danielle Vinson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vinson, Danielle.

Series:

Hampton Press communication series. Political communication

Political communication

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Congress.

Press and politics--United States.

Press and politics.

Press coverage.

United States.

United States. Congress--Press coverage--United States.

Physical Description:

xiii, 218 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cresskill, N.J. : Hampton Press, [2003]

Contents:

1. Shaping Local Coverage 1

Local Media and Congress 2

Questioning Symbiosis 3

Communication and Accountability 4

Local Media As Intermediary 6

Local Coverage and Understanding Congress 8

Three Aspects of Local Coverage 10

Studying Local Congressional Coverage 11

2. Too Many Stories 23

Coverage of Congress 24

Competition for News Space 33

Coverage of Individual Members of Congress 41

Conclusions: The Goldilocks Dilemma 51

3. Through Local Eyes 53

Issues in Localization 54

The Extent of Localization 57

How Localization Occurs 63

Patterns in Localizing Content 79

Explaining Patterns in Localization 91

4. Is Congressional News Necessarily Bad News? 99

How Congress Is Covered 102

In Search of Symbiosis 114

5. Hit or miss: Campaign Coverage 143

Coverage in the Context of Campaigns 144

Campaign Coverage: Hit or Miss 149

Media as Intermediary: Reassessing Symbiosis 170

Representation 174

Participation 176

Congressional (Dis) Approval 180

Potential and Improvements 180

Appendix A Content Analysis 183

Appendix B Interview Questions for Press Secretaries 193

Appendix C Multinomial Logit Analysis from Chapter 4 199

Appendix D Media Relations Effort Scores 205

2.1 Average number of stories 30

2.2 Length of congressional stories 32

3.1 Degrees of localization of congressional reporting 58

3.2 Degrees of localization across different media 58

3.3 Degrees of localization across market-district congruence 59

3.4 Local activites across local media 84

4.1 Orientation of congressional coverage 104

4.2 Members' media relations effort score 129

5.1 Degrees of localization in 1993 and 1994 147

1.1 Political Context 15

1.2 Media Context 16

2.1 Number of Congressional Stories in Each News Organization 28

2.2 Determinants of the Amount of Congressional Coverage 31

2.3 Determinants of the Length of Congressional Stories 33

2.4 The Amount of Coverage Given to Representatives and Senators 43

2.5 Effects of Market-district Congruence and Member Characteristics on the Number of Stories Mentioning a Local Member of Congress 45

3.1 Issues in Congressional Coverage 68

3.2 Proportion of National Coverage to Local Coverage 71

3.3 The Primary Actors in Congressional Coverage 76

3.4 Activities in Congressional Coverage 78

3.5 Primary Sources in Congressional Coverage 79

3.6 Who Localized by Covering Local Members? 80

3.7 Who Covers Local Activities 83

3.8 Who Localizes by Using Local Sources 85

4.1 Orientation of Frames 109

4.2 Orientation Compared Across Media 110

4.3 Effects on Orientation Toward Congress 111

4.4 Orientation of Congressional Members' Coverage 115

4.5 Effects on Orientation Toward Members 119

5.1 Issues Covered in 1994 145

5.2 Orientation of Different Types of Stories 148

5.3 Coverage of Local House and Senate Races 151

5.4 Amount of Coverage and Competitiveness in Senate Races 152

5.5 Influences on the Amount of Coverage 152

5.6 Topics of Early Campaign Stories 156

5.7 Orientation of Campaign Coverage 159.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-212) and indexes.

ISBN:

157273423X

1572734248

OCLC:

49820917