This page, created by Matt Garfield, is part of an undergraduate assignment at Davidson College.
Introduction
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Works Cited |
The Influence of Newspaper Endorsements on Media Coverage
I. Introduction
The date was January 29, 2004, and the site was a
conference room at a community college in Columbia, South Carolina. Senator
John Kerry
had come here five days before that state’s Democratic presidential
primary to engage in an age-old political tradition that dates back to the
earliest days of elections. Kerry was here to announce that his campaign
had received the endorsement of a high-profile U.S. Congressman named Jim
Clyburn, in hopes that it would give his already-surging candidacy a boost
among voters in the next week’s primary (CNN.com, Feb. 3, 2004).
Senator John Edwards similarly sought to use a high-profile
endorsement to benefit his primary campaign. Shortly before the Iowa caucuses
on January
19, the North Carolinian picked up the endorsement of Iowa’s largest
newspaper, the Des Moines Register. Edwards made sure to mention it prominently
in television ads and in every stump speech he gave over ensuing days. The
ploy worked; Edwards rode the momentum created by the endorsement to a surprising
second place finish behind Kerry in Iowa.
Kerry and Edwards offer two of the most recent example
of how political candidates seek to use endorsements to garner media coverage—and ultimately seek
to parlay them into more votes. In the words of Democratic consultant Donna
Brazile, endorsements “help validate a candidate who is surging and
help give a candidate momentum when they are foundering (CNN.com, Feb. 3,
2004).” Or as Norman J. Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise
Institute, said, “An endorsement brings legitimacy to a campaign (Martinez
1, 2003).”
Endorsements come from a variety of sources. As Kerry
showed in South Carolina, they often come from politicians who are well-known
in
a particular town,
state or region. However, endorsements can also come from celebrities, and
print and television media outlets. This paper will focus specifically on
newspapers and seek to specify the degree to which endorsements given by
newspaper editorial boards affected coverage levels between September 1,
2003 and March 3, 2004, during the 2004 Democratic presidential primary race
between Senators John Kerry, John Edwards, Joe Lieberman, Representative
Dick Gephardt, Governor Howard Dean and General Wesley Clark. The research
findings outlined in this paper are derived from coverage levels in six newspapers:
The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Dubuque (IA) Telegraph Herald, Manchester
(N.H.) Union Leader, and the Charleston (S.C.) Post & Courier.
It is important to describe the process that newspapers
typically follow in publishing political endorsements. First it must be
noted that
they are
produced by editorial writers that work independently from news reporters.
The Society of Professional Journalists maintains a code of ethics that requires
journalists to “distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis
and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context (Brown
1, 2002).” The endorsements usually appear on opinion pages, so it
is clear to readers that they are opinion pieces rather than news articles.
They usually run unsigned, indicating that they represent the consensus of
the newspaper’s editorial board, a panel commonly comprised of editorial
writers, the editor-in-chief and the publisher. Typically, this panel will
conduct lengthy in-person interviews with each of the candidates, and then
deliberate before reaching a consensus. The endorsements normally appear
up to one week before voting day, so that readers have adequate time to consider
the information before reaching their decisions.
Newspaper experts generally believe that editorial endorsements influence voters, but they disagree on how much. The consensus is that their endorsements are more powerful in local and state political races, but there is disagreement over whether they exert any influence in presidential elections. Some experts believe certain newspaper endorsements can even hurt a candidate’s chances rather than enhance them. Such an editorial is referred to as a “kiss of death (Giobbe 2, 1996).” One editorial page editor, Bob Kittle of the San Diego Union-Tribune, says that “newspaper endorsements are just one more voice in the debate.” Another, Ted Burrows of the Stuart (Fla.) News, says, “We think we have some effect. People write or call us to say thank you, or, to holler at us, but one way or another, people do take notice (Giobbe 1, 1996).”
© Davidson College, 2004, Department of Political
Science, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035
Send comments, questions, and suggestions to Dr.
Patrick Sellers, Professor of Political Science.
Created: 4/29/2004. Last updated: 5/03/2004.