Overview

How elections are reported has important implications for the health of democracy and informed citizenship.  But, how informative are the news media during campaigns? What kind of logic do they follow? How well do they serve citizens?e Based on original research as well as the most comprehensive assessment of election studies to date, Cushion and Thomas examine how campaigns are reported in many advanced Western democracies. In doing so, they engage with debates about the mediatization of politics, media systems, information environments, media ownership, regulation, political news, horserace journalism, objectivity, impartiality, agenda-setting, and the relationship between media and democracy more generally. Focusing on the most recent US and UK election campaigns, they consider how the logic of election coverage could be rethought in ways that better serve the democratic needs of citizens. Above all, they argue that election reporting should be driven by a public logic, where the agenda of voters takes centre stage in the campaign and the policies of respective political parties receive more airtime and independent scrutiny. The book is essential reading for scholars and students in political communication and journalism studies, political science, media and communication studies.

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9781509517510

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Reviews

Thoroughly researched and well written, this is a major addition to the agenda-setting library, a nuanced, empirically grounded presentation of the key elements that define the political, media and public agendas during elections. Maxwell McCombs, University of Texas at Austin This clear-sighted interrogation of the democratic performance of news organizations across several national and electoral contexts is of enormous value. David Deacon, Centre for Research in Communication and Culture, Loughborough University Cushion and Thomas's cross-national treatment of air wars during election campaigns provides lots of meat for scholars and students to absorb and ponder. Jay Blumler, University of Leeds a valuable text European Journal of Communication

Thoroughly researched and well written, this is a major addition to the agenda-setting library, a nuanced, empirically grounded presentation of the key elements that define the political, media and public agendas during elections. Maxwell McCombs, University of Texas at Austin This clear-sighted interrogation of the democratic performance of news organizations across several national and electoral contexts is of enormous value. David Deacon, Centre for Research in Communication and Culture, Loughborough University Cushion and Thomas's cross-national treatment of air wars during election campaigns provides lots of meat for scholars and students to absorb and ponder. Jay Blumler, University of Leeds

Thoroughly researched and well written, this is a major addition to the agenda-setting library, a nuanced, empirically grounded presentation of the key elements that define the political, media and public agendas during elections. For journalists, citizens and political communication practitioners, Reporting Elections is a comprehensive handbook for understanding elections and improving the electoral process. For scholars, it is an invaluable guide to gaps in our knowledge, identifying productive research areas for further explicating the links among the political, media and public agendas. Maxwell McCombs, University of Texas at Austin Cushion and Thomas' cross-national treatment of 'air wars' during election campaigns provides lots of meat for scholars and students to absorb and ponder - about influences on their coverage, political and media actors' strategies and logics, explanatory concepts, available data sets and literature references, and issues for democracy, including 'post-truth politics'. Jay Blumler, University of Leeds

"""Thoroughly researched and well written, this is a major addition to the agenda-setting library, a nuanced, empirically grounded presentation of the key elements that define the political, media and public agendas during elections."" Maxwell McCombs, University of Texas at Austin ""This clear-sighted interrogation of the democratic performance of news organizations across several national and electoral contexts is of enormous value."" David Deacon, Centre for Research in Communication and Culture, Loughborough University ""Cushion and Thomas’s cross-national treatment of “air wars” during election campaigns provides lots of meat for scholars and students to absorb and ponder."" Jay Blumler, University of Leeds ""a valuable text"" European Journal of Communication"

Thoroughly researched and well written, this is a major addition to the agenda-setting library, a nuanced, empirically grounded presentation of the key elements that define the political, media and public agendas during elections. For journalists, citizens and political communication practitioners, Reporting Elections is a comprehensive handbook for understanding elections and improving the electoral process. For scholars, it is an invaluable guide to gaps in our knowledge, identifying productive research areas for further explicating the links among the political, media and public agendas. Maxwell McCombs, University of Texas at Austin Cushion and Thomas' cross-national treatment of `air wars' during election campaigns provides lots of meat for scholars and students to absorb and ponder - about influences on their coverage, political and media actors' strategies and logics, explanatory concepts, available data sets and literature references, and issues for democracy, including `post-truth politics'. Jay Blumler, University of Leeds

Author Information

Stephen Cushion is Reader at the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. Richard Thomas is Senior Lecturer in Journalism at Swansea University.

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