I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to everyone who contributed to this research project over the many years since I first started collecting data. Some people like my incredibly wonderful and generous parents Rose and Vincent B. Fitzgerald and my former professor, advisor, mentor, and friend Robert Kubey of Rutgers University did not survive to see its completion. Many other...

Figure 5.1

Table 2.1

~

On Wednesday, October 12, 1988, nearly one month before Election Day and the night before the second and final presidential debate, World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings announced that ABC would begin the broadcast with something that had not been done before during the campaign. Jennings reported that ABC News and the Washington Post had conducted a comprehensive poll that...

To begin, there are three important points that need to be emphasized about the data presented in this research. First, only one network per night was coded based on a random rotation of ABC, CBS, and NBC within each campaign. As such, the sample is one-third of the universe. An analysis of the three networks was conducted and revealed that there is little variation between them in coverage during...

~

Corporations, nonprofit organizations, and celebrities have long embraced the art of public relations as way to increase name awareness and foster favorable brand recognition. Politicians at almost all levels, but especially those seeking national office, have also employed these strategies. In reality, many campaign events and appearances are just ways to attract media attention. The few hundred...

The role of the media in the United States is vast and fulfills numerous functions. Whether it be for entertainment purposes, providing interpersonal connections via social media, or for advertising and economic reasons, the media are ubiquitous worldwide in the twenty-first century. In the United States, perhaps the most important role that the media play is the dissemination of information to...

The news divisions of the three major broadcast television networks are filled with intelligent people at all levels, from the news presidents to producers to the on-air anchors and correspondents. They understand that preelection public opinion polls have increased dramatically over the years. Even as far back as 1968 when the number of poll results broadcast by the networks was...

~

Vincent M. Fitzgerald is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale, New York, since 1995 where he teaches courses on media criticism, television news, and directs senior theses. He completed his PhD in 1994 at the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University and has spoken at numerous national and...