If you are seeing this message, you may be experiencing temporary network problems. Please wait a few minutes and refresh the page. If the problem persists, you may wish to report it to your local Network Manager.

It is also possible that your web browser is not configured or not able to display style sheets. In this case, although the visual presentation will be degraded, the site should continue to be functional. We recommend using the latest version of Microsoft or Mozilla web browser to help minimise these problems.

Wiley InterScience

< Previous Abstract  |  Next Abstract >

Save Article to My Profile      Download Citation      Request Permissions

Abstract |  References  |  Full Text: HTML, PDF (Size: 176K)  | Related Articles | Citation Tracking

Consumer Demand for Election News: The Horserace Sells
Shanto Iyengar 1 , Helmut Norpoth 2 , and Kyu S. Hahn 3
  1 Stanford University
  2 Stony Brook University
  3 Stanford University
Correspondence to  Shanto Iyengar is Harry and Norman Chandler Professor of Communication and Political Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA (siyengar@stanford.edu). Helmut Norpoth is professor of political science, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY (hnorpoth@notes.cc.sunysb.edu). Kyu S. Hahn is a graduate student in Communication, Stanford University, Stanford, CA (khahn@stanford.edu).
Copyright 2004 Southern Political Science Association

ABSTRACT

Reports on the state of the horserace and analysis of the candidates' strategies are pervasive themes in news coverage of campaigns. Various explanations have been suggested for the dominance of strategy-oriented news over hard news. The most frequently identified factors are the length of the modern campaign, the built-in conflict between journalists and campaign operatives, and the pressures of the marketplace. This article provides a test of the market hypothesis. Given access to a wide variety of news reports about the presidential campaign during the weeks immediately preceding the 2000 election, we find that voters were drawn to reports on the horserace and strategy. Strategy reports proved especially popular among readers with higher levels of political engagement. In closing, we consider what journalists might do to make stories about the issues more relevant and marketable.


Manuscript submitted September 18, 2002
Final manuscript received April 10, 2003

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)
10.1046/j.1468-2508.2004.00146.x About DOI

Related Articles

  • Find other articles like this in Wiley InterScience
  • Find articles in Wiley InterScience written by any of the authors

Wiley InterScience is a member of CrossRef.

Cross Ref Member