Press Release--October 18, 2000
TV Has Bad News For Gore
WASHINGTON, DC - Network news coverage of Al Gore
turned sharply negative after the first presidential debate, according to
the latest report from the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA)
ElectionWatch. The study finds a similar downward
trend in on-air predictions of Gore’s election prospects, while assessments
of Bush’s chances have soared.
ElectionWatch is published weekly by the Center
for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA), a nonpartisan, nonprofit research
and educational organization. CMPA’s ongoing scientific content analysis
of election news measures the tone and focus of news coverage by examining
on-air statements from reporters and other non-partisan news sources. This
report is based on all stories broadcast from Labor Day through October
15th on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening news shows.
Gore’s Press Goes South - Al Gore received
about evenly balanced evaluations (48% positive vs. 52% negative) on network
news throughout September, while evaluations of George Bush ran 2 to 1 (67%)
negative. Since October 2, however, Gore’s on-air evaluations have
been slightly worse than Bush’s - 68% negative for Gore vs. 66% negative
for Bush. Example: "On education, experts say Gore is wrong in describing
his own plan." (Tom Brokaw, NBC, 10/12)
Horse Race of a Different Color - During September,
on-air assessments of Gore’s election prospects were positive by a
6 to 1 margin (86% to 14%), while Bush’s were negative by a 5 to 1
margin (83% to 17%). Since then a majority of Gore’s horse race assessments
have been negative, while a majority (59%) of comments on Bush’s prospects
have been positive. Example: "[Gore has suffered] another stumble in
what has become a campaign struggling to regain its stride." (Terry
Moran, ABC, 10/12)
What Campaign? - Coverage of fighting and terrorism in the
Middle East drove down last week’s campaign news to its lowest level
since Labor Day - only 48 minutes of airtime, just over 2 minutes
per network per night. Overall, coverage is running 9 percent below 1996
levels (385 min. vs. 425 min.).
What Issues? - The policy issues receiving the heaviest
coverage this fall are health care (25 stories), the economy (24), energy
(16), education (7), and foreign policy (7). But these are far outpaced
by coverage of campaign strategy and tactics - 61 stories on Bush’s
strategy and 59 on Gore’s.
