Mizzou Study: Newspaper Primary Coverage Nearly All About The Horse Race

By: Mark Fitzgerald Newspaper political reporters are the rail birds of political campaign, ever fixated on the horse race rather than candidate policy or character, a University of Missouri professor's continuing research suggests.

University of Missouri Communication Professor William Benoit and doctoral candidate Mark Glantz analyzed more than 800 USA Today stories about the 2008 presidential primaries, and found more than half -- 56% -- were devoted to the horse race aspect of the campaign, such as polls, strategies, predictions, and, of course, election results.

By contrast, fewer than a third -- 29% -- of the articles concerned a candidate's character -- and just 15% included statements about a candidate's policy.

The research into USA Today stories is just the first part of an unfinished study that will include statistics of the primary campaign coverage of The New York Time and The Washington Post as well. But Benoit doesn't expect the results form those papers will be very different from USA Today.

Benoit is the author of a study of Times primary and general election campaign coverage from 1952 to 2000, and he says the focus on the horse race runs through the decades.

Political reporters are attracted to the horse race aspect of campaigns because it is a reliable source of news.

"I don't think it will ever change -- it's endemic to the system because it's literally what is new," he said in a telephone interview from his Mizzou office.

While policy positions of the candidates rarely change from day to day, the horse race is always new: candidates are in different cities or states or there's a new poll out or someone shakes up his or her campaign staff or shifts campaign strategy.

Reporter interest in the race itself contrasts with what candidates highlight, Benoit says.

His research found that candidate messages are overwhelmingly about policy and character. Statements in announcement speeches, for instance, are 63% about policy and 37% about character. Television spots are 59% about policy and 41% about character. In debates, 70% of the discussion is about policy and 30% about character. Similarly, campaign Web sites are 81% about policy and 19% about character.

One reason reporters favor the horse race over policy or character discussions is that it's easier, Benoit says. "Not everyone can be an expert can on health care, the war in Iraq, the economy, gun control, Social Security -- but everybody can be an expert on the horse race," he said.

The debate about covering the race as opposed to covering issues is an evergreen in journalism, but it may be that Benoit's study defines the horse race too broadly. A poll, for instance, may be about who's ahead, yet at the same time provide information about who is supporting a particular candidate and why -- data that's as much about issues as the horse race.

Lee Horwich, the senior assignment editor who heads up political coverage for USA Today, said he doesn't know how to react to this first stage of Benoit's study.

"Professor Benoit hasn't made public his study or methodology, so I can't meaningfully evaluate his conclusions," he said. "On its face, it's difficult to understand how applying arbitrary labels like 'character' and 'policy' to multi-layered and multi-faceted coverage could lead to any meaningful assessment of news content."

Other research Benoit has conducted on campaign coverage can be found on the Web site.