PBS Ain't So Different

Public Broadcasting, Election Frames, and Democratic Empowerment

Bibliographic Data

ID7501344
AuthorsMatthew R Kerbel (corresponding author), Sumaiya Apee, Marc Howard Ro, Marc Howard Ross
Year2000
Volume5
Issue4
Pages8-32
Publication date2000-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHarvard International Journal of Press/Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1081-180X • E-ISSN: 1531-328X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1081180x00005004002
OpenAlexW1990250219
LanguageEN
Citations received47
References cited8

Critics often complain that network television election coverage is too short, too superficial, and too focused on “horse race” and strategy. As a result, television news viewers are believed to have an inadequate basis for making intelligent democratic electoral choices. Short, fast-moving, episodic stories and dramatic images convey news frames that fail to inform and empower citizens wishing to make the sort of thoughtful, issue-based choices valued by democratic theorists. Many of these critics laud Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) coverage for its greater story length, use of knowledgeable experts, focus on substantive issues, and lack of dramatic imagery. However, our research shows that despite many differences in the structure of PBS stories, its election news frames are surprisingly similar to those of the oft-criticized commercial networks. Our analysis of ten story frames appearing in PBS and ABC evening news coverage of the 1996 presidential election reveals that public and commercial stories were dominated by horse-race and strategy frames to the exclusion of frames that focus on the prospective and retrospective consequences of candidates' actions and proposals. Our analysis shows that PBS coverage is more comparable to network news coverage than is widely believed, and we suggest that, like network television, PBS frames election news in terms that are disempowering to democratic processes

Advertising · Broadcasting (networking · Business · Computer security · Democracy · Focus (optics · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Presidential election · Presidential system · Public broadcasting · Public relations · Sociology · Computer Science · Media Influence and Politics · Media Studies and Communication · Social Media and Politics · Law

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub