The Campaign Disconnect: Media Coverage of the 2000 South Carolina Presidential Primary

Abstract

Campaigns are an interactive process in which candidates, outside groups, the media, and voters communicate with each other to create an information environment that allows the various participants to construct meaning and form an understanding of the candidates and the campaign. Presidential primaries add a layer of complexity to this process as candidates and the press deal with both local and national audiences. In this article, we analyze the campaign communications in the 2000 Republican presidential primary in South Carolina—including candidate ads, mailings, and phone calls; local and national newspaper coverage; and network television coverage. We find that there was a disconnect as news media often focused on events and issues that diverged from the messages of the candidates' campaigns. In addition, we find substantial differences between local and national media coverage of the primary resulting from their distinct audiences and the reporters' own understanding of the local context that created significantly different information environments for voters in the state and those out of the state. We consider the implications of these findings for how voters and journalists understand the candidates as well as the challenges presidential candidates face in simultaneously campaigning locally and nationally.

Keywords:

• presidential primaries
• campaign communication
• media and campaigns
• 2000 presidential primary
• political communication

The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of David Magleby of Brigham Young University, who directed the study from which much of the data for this article were derived, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, which provided funding for the project. We are also grateful for the assistance of Whitney Goodwin, Mark DuBois, Jenny Willis, and Amer Ahmad in gathering the data.

Notes

1. We did not choose each sentence or paragraph as the unit of analysis because our concern was not how many times an issue was mentioned in a story or communication but merely if it was mentioned.

2. We had a research assistant recode one tenth of the articles and campaign communications to check intercoder reliability. There was 95% agreement across all issues. Additional details can be found in the Appendix.

3. When the character reference was stated explicitly rather than merely implied, it was coded as both a reference to negative campaigning and to character.

4. The reason for the Greenville News' lack of attention to character is unclear to us. It was clearly an aberration compared to the rest of the local coverage.

5. The article did not, however, mention that the congregation of this church is largely made up of Bob Jones alumni and supporters.

6. The McCain campaign did not admit to paying for these calls until after the Michigan primary.