Political Science 467
Political Manipulation of the News
Dr. Sellers
January 30, 2008

Paper #1

This first paper assignment requires you to explore how policy elites attempt (both currently and in the recent past) to frame or structure news coverage of an issue or event(s), often to win advantage.  For the second paper, you will explore your research topic in more detail, reviewing previous research in the area.  The third paper asks you to propose the dependent and independent variables for your analysis and to explain how you would measure them.  In your final paper, you will analyze the data for your variables and present the results of your analysis.

In political conflicts in the United States and other countries, each side often tries to frame media coverage of issues or events in a particular manner, so that the public is more likely to support that side's position, instead of the opposing side's position.  In the 2004 presidential election, for example, the two campaigns presented two contrasting interpretations of the Iraq war.  Republicans emphasized the importance of continuing the fight against Iraqi insurgents and terrorism more generally. Democrats expressed strong support for American soldiers while questioning the initial justification of the war. Each side believed that it could win by convincing the media and the American public to accept its interpretation of the events.  Significantly, the news media are not passive recipients of these conflicting interpretations.  Reporters and editors use their own norms and routines to decide which issues and interpretations to cover.

Learning the history of elites' maneuvering on your topic will help guide your own research project.  You can uncover the most prominent positions and messages, as well as the major actors.  For this paper, you need to describe how political elites have fought to frame news coverage on your particular topic during the past six months.  For issues in American politics, much of the maneuvering may involve the President, presidential candidates, or other politicians in Congress.  Much (but not necessarily all) of the competition may fall along party lines, with Democrats and Republicans offering competing arguments and prescriptions on the issue.  Other topics, particularly those involving individuals outside the United States, may involve different actors and lines of competition.  When describing this competition, address the following questions:

1. Who were the major actors on the issue?  In the context of the United States, for example, you may need to consider party and committee leaders in Congress, the president and his assistants, and presidential candidates.
2. How did each side attempt to frame the issue or event(s)?  How did each side describe the basic policy question(s), its own position(s) on that question(s), and the opposing side's position(s) on the question?  Make sure that you specify as clearly as possible how the two sides' interpretations differed.
3. On your particular issue, which side won or is winning?  In whole or in part?  What evidence exists of that outcome?  If neither side has or had an advantage, what evidence exists of the stalemate?
4. How can you explain the particular outcome?  Why is (or did) one side (or neither) winning (or won)?

To find information for your issue, you can turn to a variety of sources.  For topics in American politics, the library subscribes to several printed publications which track policy developments in Washington, including CQ Weekly Report and the National Journal.  The library also subscribes to on-line versions of CQ and National Journal. For more general stories on your issue, you can turn to the Lexis-Nexis dataset of newspapers.  Lexis-Nexis also maintains a database on policy developments in Congress.  Finally, you can visit the web pages maintained by the House and Senate and their members.  There are undoubtedly other sources which can help your research, particularly for topics involving actors and coverage outside the United States.  The list here is only a starting point.

You should type your paper, using 1-inch margins and a font no smaller than 10 point.  The paper can be either single- or double-spaced.  The maximum length is one page of text; when grading, I will not read any material past this one page (except citation information in a bibliography).  The paper should contain appropriate in-text citations for any sources used.  The detailed information for each citation should then appear in a bibliography on a separate page.  The paper should contain a blank cover page containing the student's name, the class, the number of the paper, and the Honor Code pledge.  The paper is due at the start of class on Wednesday, February 6.  Papers turned in more than 10 minutes after the start of class will be considered late.  Paper grades are lowered by ten points (out of 100 total points) for each 24-hour period (after the start of class) that they are late.  Finally, the Honor Code binds all answers; make sure that you pledge your work.