TELEVISION NEWS, FOREIGN POLICY, AND PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS:

THE CASE OF 1 9 7 2

C. Richard Hofstetter Robert H. Trice

Few analysts deny the pervasive role that television plays as the major source of information about foreign affairs for most Americaml But the specific characteristics of television coverage of foreign policy and the dynamics that produce those features are largely neglected in political science research.2 Both television and foreign policy become issues in the colorful, conflict-laden campaigns of George McGovern and Richard Nixon in 1972. The purpose of this study is to develop the assumption that the nature of network news as an institution, interacting with the imperatives of campaign politics, plays a major role in shaping the main features of news about foreign affairs during presidential cam- paigns.

BACKGROUND

Campaign strategists and news personnel inter- act in an unstable and dynamic way. Each group uses the other to further its own purposes; e t , each poses a challenge to the goals of the 0ther.I The content of foreign affairs news coverage is assumed to be influenced no less than other news content by the

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equivocal relationship between politicians and re- porters. News content is influenced to an even greater degree, moreover, during campaigns than during other periods.

Unfortunately, the evidence for this position is indirect. Campaign organizations are planned with one purpose, to win victory for their candidates. Most tactics in pursuit of winning elections involve garnering publicity favorable to one candidate's in- terests and unfavorable to the opponent's interests4 The tactics emphasize both "controlled" forms of coverage, such as paid commercials, and "uncon- trolled" coverage, such as news overage.^ "Media events" are frequently staged in order to gain exposure and convey preferred information and im- agery concerning candidate positions to the mass public.

News media, expecially the highly credible television medium, are thus used to disseminate a variety of political messages for campaign purposes. Newsmen are often manipulated successfully in the process of furthering campaign objectives.6 The frequent success of campaign machinations, however, does not mean that newspersonnel are alwa s naive, innocent, or helpless actors in the process. Y

Attempts to contrive media events, however, are fraught with danger. A news erson's career is based on the prominence of stories! and the political expose occupies an important position in American journalism's repertoire of prominent news stories. Candidates and their campaign organizations are likely to be examined in detail by reporters searching for anything out of the ordinary, and especially for attempts to deceive, or for behavior that implies hypocrisy in order to enhance the "news value" of material.$ As a consequence, news stories that reveal self-serving "hidden agendas," conflicts of interest , malfeasance or misfeasance, or incom-

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petence are more likely to be broadcast during a campaign than simply descriptive material about routine cam aign events or lengthy detailed policy stat em en ts. 1g

Television also imposes constraints of its own on the news coverage that it provides. A premium, for instance, is placed on events that can be presented in concise, engaging, and entertaining 30 to 90-second packages. The premium is enhanced if the content of stories is congruent wi th specific themes developed during continuin coverage of domestic and foreign policy coverage.81 TV news often sacrifices analytic treatment of issues for other aspects of campaign coverage.12 Stories are produced as miniature dramatic happenings, give maximum attention to conflict, and include heavy doses of pictorial material emphasizing action.

The economics of news staffing, to continue the campaigning example, means that events which can be anticipated, such as media events carefully publi- cized by advance men to occur in locations and at times convenient for news coverage, gain greater coverage than other events.14 These situational and structural factors result in tremendous selectivity in what is and is not covered by television and how events are ~ 0 v e r e d . l ~

On the basis of these arguments, it is hypo- thesized that certain foreign policy events receive greater attention during presidential campaigns than other events. First, basic issues of war and peace comprise a set of concerns that are usually amenable to dramatic, graphic, simple, and concise present- ation.16 Considerably more attention to violent events, for instance, than to less dramatic, more complex issues such as trade negotiations, arms sales and limitations agreements, and internal policy de- bates would be expected.

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Second, campaign organizations are hypothe- sized to seek out opportunities to display their candidate's expertise in international affairs by link- ing the candidate to more highly publicized, dramatic foreign policy events.17 The intersection of tele- vision and campaign organization interests in em- phasizing dramatic aspects of foreign affairs that are both easy to cover and relevant to the campaign is likely to produce considerable foreign policy coverage during the campaign season.

Although attention to foreign affairs varies from campaign to campaign, the Nixon Admini- stration was in the process of "winding down" the longest war in American history during the peak of the 1972 campaign. The Paris Peace talks provided a context for discussion of American involvement in Asia, and both of the major campaigns seized the opportunity to make the manner of disengagement from Vietnam a major issue of their campaigns.l* Clearly, the "personal diplomacy" of Kissinger, cul- minating in the claim that l'peace is a t hand" shortly before the election, could not have been better calculated to enhance t h e burgeoning GOP re-election efforts. Yet, the continuing conflict in Vietnam, repleat with combat by United States soldiers, aided Democratic efforts.

DATA AND METHODS

The data used in this analysis were drawn from a larger study of the characteristics of television coverage of public affairs during the 1972 e1ecti0n.l~ All weekday major network programs between the first day of the Democratic National Convention, July 10, and election eve, November 6, 1972, have been analyzed. During this four month period, 4349 stories of political or social relevance were broadcast , including 1420 on CBS, 1576 on NBC, and 1353 on ABC. The news story is the basic unit of analysis in this study. A "storyl7 is defined as a self-contained

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set of messages about a particular, identifiable topic.2O Various characteristics of these messages are assumed to be influential in shaping popular perceptions of foreign affairs and campaign issues.

A trained staff of coders used video tapes of newsprograms as well as texts of news stories to code each story for a number of relevant attributes.21 Coders were continuously monitored while processing stories and were rotated in order to avoid spurious effects due to code error. Inter-coder agreement-- the measure of coding reliability employed for this study-was acceptable, although reliability scores were lower for the "softer" attributes and higher for the "harder", less ambiguous indicators of story form and content.22 The key content indicators discussed below have been validated in a multi-method A multi- trait study. 23

News stories were coded according to the dominant issue discussed. If more than a single issue was reported in a story, the issue to which the most time was devoted was considered to have been dominant. This coding convention has the advantage of classifying stories in terms that causal viewers are likely to perceive, although issues that consistently receive secondary emphasis are likely to be under- estimated. Stories that in some way linked the United States to foreign nations form t h e basis of much of this analysis. Such stories were classified "foreign affairs" news, while stories exclusively about events and issues that occurred in the United States were labeled "domestic" news. A small percentage (5.1 percent) of the total number of stories defied this dichotomous categorization, and qualified as both "foreign and domestic" news. Because t h e major concern is in comparing news coverage given to

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foreign versus domestic issues during the 1972 cam- paign, stories in this residual category were not included in the analysis.

NEWS COVERAGE DURING THE 1972 CAMPAIGN

Attention is turned first to an outline of the major dimensions of television news programming during the 1972 campaign. Because’of the minimal variation in the amount and nature of foreign and domestic news coverage among the three networks,24 neys stories were a gregated across networks for purposes of analysis.25 Two measures were used to characterize the amount of network coverage of foreign versus domestic issues: the number of stories about each set of issues, and the amount of air time devoted to each. Each story was also coded for the specific foreign or domestic issue discussed, and whether or not the stories emphasized the presi- dential candidates, the major parties, or party plat- forms, the campaign, or the Nixon Administration.

Extent of Coverage

The networks devoted less attention to foreign affairs than to domestic affairs during the 1972 campaign. This occurred even though both candidates and the public saw Vietnam to have been a major campaign issue. Domestic affairs was given con- siderably greater emphasis than foreign policy, whether measured by either number of stories or amount of air time devoted to each. Of the 4349 news stories included in the analysis, about 62 percent concerned domestic issues, 33 percent were devoted to foreign affairs, and roughly 5 percent fell in the residual category of both foreign and domestic affairs. This programming totaled 85.9 air time hours. Of the total, 55.9 hours (65.3 percent of the time) were spent covering domestic concerns, 25.1 hours (29.3 percent) were consumed in foreign affairs coverage, and 4.6 hours (5.4 percent) were devoted to

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stories that touched on both foreign and domestic issues.

Candidate NIcGovern received greater total coverage by the networks than candidate Nixon, both in terms of number of stories and amount of time. News about McGovern focused almost entirely on domestic issues, despite the McGovern campaign's multi-issue stance.26 Only about 0.1 percent (ap- proximately seven minutes) of all the stories about McGovern emphasized foreign policy. In contrast, about 13.6 percent (1.7 hours) of the stories about Nixon included a dominant foreign policy theme.

Stories mentioning candidates and parties were much less likely to have a foreign policy backdrop than stories focusing on non-campaign news. Slightly less than half (49.2 percent) of the stories devoting primary emphasis to issues without mentioning the campaign concerned foreign affairs, while about 43 percent of them concerned domestic affairs. In stark contrast, only 22 percent of the stories about can- didates and issues together emphasized foreign af- fairs. And nearly 69 percent of such stories em- phasized domestic issues.

The tendency to emphasize domestic concerns in campaign relevant stories is most evident in stories dealing with both candidates and parties. Only 1.9 percent (0.3 hours) of these stories concerned foreign policy, while 93.1 percent dealt with domestic affairs. It appears, therefore, that stories about presidential campaign issues were more likely to be cast in terms of domestic politics rather than foreign policy.

Reading the specific kinds of foreign policy issues that were covered during the campaign period, it appears from data in Table 1 that the range of topics was quite small. Vietnam was clearly the dominant focus for the networks. Vietnam received

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more than five times the coverage of any other region or policy issue.

Table 1

Network N e w s Coverage of Foreign Pol icy Issues During the 1972 Campaign

Issue

Vietnam

Miadle East/Arab-Israeli Confl ic t

Relat ions with hope/NATO

Relat ions with African and Asian Countrics/Developing S t a t e s

Prevention of War/Establishment of Peace (non-Vietnam r e l a t e &

Soviet-Amerlcan Relat ions

Relat ions with Lat in America

American Foreign Involvement/Military Assistance/Foreign Aid

Sino-American Relat ions

U n i t e d Nations

-

Other Fore ignPol icy Issues

(N)

Percent - 58.2%

10.8

8.5

7-1

3-2

3-0

2.0

1.1

.9

.7

4.5

100.0%

( 1347 1

-

Vietnam

Other Foreign Policy I ssues

National Defense Issues

Table 2

Candidates Mentioned I n Foreign Pol icy N e w s S t o r i e s

V.P. N->on HcGcvern Candidates i c - L s N 7 -

1x.s (41) 85.4% 12.2 2.4

90.9% 9.1 0.0 1x.3 (11)

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On the basis of Table 1, it is possible to argue that although relatively little attention was devoted to foreign policy coverage, during the campaign, the McGovern camp may have benefitted since more than half of these were about Vietnam. Table 2, however, shows that even with regard to Vietnam, Nixon far outdistanced McGovern in terms of news exposure. Although less than 15 percent of all news stories dealing with Vietnam mentioned any candidate, Mc- Govern was mentioned only four times in connection with Vietnam during the entire campaign. Incumbent Nixon, on the other hand, was mentioned in 40 Vietnam stories. The disproportionate foreign policy coverage given the incumbent held true for issues other than Vietnam as well. In terms of exposure at least, it appears that foreign policy' news was prob- ably more consistent with the goals of the Nixon campaign organization and less helpful to the Mc- Govern organization.

Favorability

Amount of coverage, of course, is not the only way of characterizing network news stories. Also important are the evaluative dimensions of television coverage, the extent to which content is favorable and unfavorable. News stories were judged to be "favorable" when successful policies or socially de- sirable values were dominant, and "unfavorable" when unsuccessful policies or socially undesirable values were dominant. Stories were coded "neutral" when they could not clearly be classified as either favor- able or unfavorable. It is important to note that manifest content, not motivation of news personnel, was measured by this indicator.27

Domestic and foreign policy issues received remarkably similar coverage in terms of favorability during the 1972 campaign. An overwhelming pro- portion of stories were judged to be neutral in content. This was true of both domestic (84.4

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percent) and foreign (86.4 percent) issues. About three percent of the stories about domestic affairs and foreign policy were favorable. And slightly more than one story in ten concerning domestic issues and foreign affairs issues was unfavorable.

The manifest content of foreign and domestic news coverage, therefore, was generally parallel and overwhelmingly neutral in character.

Style of Coverage

It is assumed that the economic imperatives of television play a major role in determining the kinds of stories that are broadcast. Most generally, the news attracts and holds audiences.28 It this assump tion is correct, then coverage of foreign affairs during a presidential campaign should also give fu l l latitude to the kinds of stories calculated to increase program ratings. Such stories involve conflict, action and pictures. The costs of transmitting live or "very fresh" news from around the world, however, are generally much greater than the admittedly drier, less interesting reports read by "talking heads" sitting in television studios. The question is: Which set of constraints (those pushing for maximum audience engagement or those pushing for budgetary restraints) appeared to dominate in the midst of America3 longest war during a presidential campaign that supposedly offered "a choice?"

News stories were coded to distinguish three kinds of pictorial or "graphic material." These in- cluded graphic displays such as sketches, symbols, tables or graphs, photographs of relevant people or scenes, or f i lm that relates to the story. Stories were also coded to distinguish three different types of settings. These were the television studio, the locations where reported events may have occurred but were not taking place at the time of the report. and action settings where stories were reported as they occur in the settings where they were taking

1 0 2

place. Film and action settings are most costly (and sometimes hazardous) to broadcast, while graphics and photos in studio settings are the least costly. Film in action settings stimulate the greatest degree of audience attention, while most audiences are likely to find graphics in studio settings relatively boring.

Table 3

!Cype of Graphics and Sett ings i n Network News Coveraae of'Forei.cn and Domestic Affairs

Issue

Domestic Foreign

Graphics :

Displays Film Film and Displays Photos Film and Photos Photas and Graphs A l l ! b e e

(N)

Set t ings:

Action Location Studio Action and Location Action and Stud io Action and Location All llrree

(N)

40.9% 8.2 40.0 1-5 0.2 5.7 4.6

( 2253)

lo.@ 2.6 47.8 8.4 12.5 0.6 18.1

(233)

50.9% 3.2 32.6 1-3 0.0 7.1 4.7

(1247)

3.% 1.4 59.7 3.7 12.6 2-9 16.0

( 1256 1

According to data in Table 3, budgetary con- straints appear to have won the battle in determining the production characteristics of foreign affairs news during the 1972 campaign. Domestic news stories (53 percent) included f i lm more often than foreign affairs (40 percent), while stories dealing with foreign policy issues were much more likely to include graphic displays (63 percent versus 31 percent).

A very similar pattern appears in Table 3 concerning settings given to domestic and foreign affairs news stories. Domestic coverage (49 percent)

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was much more likely than foreign affairs stories (36 percent) to occur in action settings during the 1972 campaign period. Domestic news, moreover, included a far greater amount of Itcrowd activity" than did foreign affairs news stories. About 25 percent of the news stories about domestic affairs in comparison to 18 percent of the stories about foreign affairs included pictures in which large crowds (more than 100 people) could be seen. Crowd activity, which was assumed to attract audience attention, was rated "high" in 72 percent of the domestic stories in comparison to only 38 percent of the foreign policy stories.

Findings concerning style of campaign news coverage suggest that network news may, a t least in one sense, represent another version of the old. Ptolemaic theory. National, but domestic, news was presented in ways that were more likely to be engaging to larger portions of the public than was foreign news. Domestic coverage included qualities that were more likely to produce greater audience interest, concern, and attention than foreign affairs coverage. The 1972 campaign provided a severe test of the traditional balance in campaigns between foreign and domestic concerns. Not only was the Vietnam w a r raging, but other explosive foreign policy issues, such as the Arab-Israeli conflict, repeatedly erupted during the course of the campaign. The question that is begged by these findings is the extent to which popular interest in domestic and foreign affairs coincided with news coverage provided by the network . PARTISAN LINKAGES IN FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC NEWS COVERAGE

Lagging far behind his rival in the polls from the outset, Senator McGovern devoted a great deal of attention to foreign affairs in his campaign.29 He attacked the credibility and capability of his firmly

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entrenched opponent to end American involvement in Southeast Asia and bring peace to that region. A t the same time, President Nixon made reductions in U.S. troop commitments to Vietnam, continued largely uneventful negotiations in Paris, and, toward the end of the campaign, declared that "peace was at hand." The Republican incumbent maintained a low profile in the campaign itself, but persistently em- phasized his presidential role as head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Top ad- ministration officials such as Henry Kissinger at- tempted to keep the Administration's foreign policy accom lishments in the public's eye through the news media. $0 A brief examination of how television linked foreign policy events to the presidential race is instructive.

Stories About the Campaigns and the Administration

A number of stories about the campaigns and the Administration directly tied news about foreign affairs to campaign efforts. The sharpest contrast in news coverage of the Republican and Democratic campaigns was in the area of foreign affairs. As can be seen from Table 4 , Republicans benefitted from campaign stories that mentioned foreign policy issues. The content of nearly one story in four about the GOP campaign and foreign affairs was favorable to the Republicans, while the content of no comparable stories about the Democratic campaign was favorable. Stories concerning domestic affairs, moreover, were twice as favorable to the GOP campaign. The Republican advantage in favor- able foreign news coverage, moreover, carried over to coverage of domestic events. In GOP campaign stories dealing with domestic affairs, coverage was more than twice as likely to be unfavorable as favorable, but the GOP still was covered more favorably than the Democrats. Television news, nevertheless, conveyed a more positive image of Republican campaign positions and a more unfavor-

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able image of the Democrats in the realm of foreign policy.

Favorable, Neutral, and Unfavorable Coverage of Republican and Democratic Campaign Coverage and Administration Coverage

by Dcmestic and Foreign Policy Issue lknphasis

Republican Campaign S to r i e s

Favorable Neutral Unfavoreble

Story About: d T i m e - - % Time $ Time - N

Domestic Affairs 13.3% 2.2 57.2 9.7 29.5 5.4 (610) Foreign Affair6 24.2% 0.2 65.2 1.6 10.h 0.2 ( 66)

Democratic Campaign Stor ies

Domestic Affairs 7.98 1.5 71.6 u . 6 20.5 3.4 (592) Foreign Affairs 0.- 0.0 84.2 1.0 15.6 0.2 ( 38)

Adninistration S tor ies

Domestic Affairs 8.9$ 1.5 67.6 12.1 23.5 6.2 (796) Foreign Affairs 5.98 0.5 86.9 6.5 7.2 0.7 (305)

Coverage about the Nixon Administration was less favorable than coverage about the Republican campaign, a t least to the extent that t h e two could be disentangled during t h e 1972 campaign. The contrast was evident in both foreign and domestic affairs content, although news about the admini- stration was treated more favorably than news about t h e Democratic campaign. A large proportion of t he foreign affairs coverage mentioning the admini- stration was neutral, with unfavorable stories slightly outnumbering favorable stories. Again, however, the administration fared much better in stories dealing with foreign affairs than in stories about domestic affairs. News about the administration and domestic

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affairs was nearly three times as likely to be unfavorable as favorable.

Stories About the Candidate

Finally, the ways television news content por- trayed the presidential candidates during the 1972 campaign was examined. According to Table 5 , foreign affairs news about Nixon was more favorable than news about McGovern. The reverse was true of news about domestic affairs. Nixon fared less well than McGovern. Less differentiation between foreign and domestic affairs coverage was evident in news about McGovern during the campaign. News about McGovern, like news about Nixon, was more un- favorable than favorable regardless of policy area. Unfavorable foreign affairs stories about McGovern were more frequent than unfavorable domestic affairs stories. News about foreign affairs was three times more likely to be unfavorable than favorable for kIcGovern. Domestic stories were less than twice as likely to be unfavorable as favorable.

Table 5

Favorable, Neutral, and Unfavwable Candidate Coverage i n News Emphasizing Republican and Democratic Candidate’s, by Foreign and

Domestic I s sue Etaphasis.

Issue Coverage in Candidate S tor ie s About Nixon

Favorable Neutral Unfavorable

% Time (N) - - % - - - Pol i cy h e a : Time

Domestic l0.Q 2.2 66.4 13.0 23.6 6.0 (787) Foreign 7.M 0.3 82.0 4.0 11.0 0.6 (172)

Issue Coverwe i n Candidate S tor ie s About FcCovern

Domestic 10.1% 2.1 72.0 11.2 17.9 3-2 (574) Foreign 5.Q 0.0 80.0 0.6 15.0 0.1 ( 20)

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DISCUSSION

This study has described some aspects of tele- vision news coverage of foreign and domestic affairs during the 1972 campaign. The impact of television's representations of the Nixon and McGovern cam- paigns in winning support among the American elect- orate cannot be drawn from these data.31 One general conclusion is that the McGovern campaign derived little in the way of succor from news coverage of the Vietnam war. In contrast, it appears that to t h e extent that the Nixon campaign sought to portray the President's foreign policy role in limited but favorable terms, the Republicans benefitted from television news coverage.

Network television news paid much less at- tention to foreign affairs than to domestic issues during the 1972 campaign. An overwhelming pro- portion of stories dealing with the candidates, the parties, or the campaigns emphasized domestic themes. News about domestic issues, moreover, was much more likely than news about foreign affairs to be presented in ways which attract and hold audience attention. McGovern received greater total coverage than Nixon during the campaign. Nearly all of this coverage, however, tied McGovern to domestic, not to foreign policy issues. While Nixon received less total news exposure, he had relatively greater foreign affairs coverage than his Democratic opponent.

In terms of the foreign policy coverage, tele- vision news attention focused on a very narrow range to topics. The bulk of this coverage was devoted to high-conflict , dramatic issues, such as wars, riots, and violence in Vietnam and, to a lesser extent, the Middle East. McGovern could not have benefitted from news concentration on Vietnam. Not only was Nixon mentioned more favorably than McGovern in connection wi th Vietnam, but Nixon was also men- tioned more frequently. Indeed, political pollsters

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have suggested that hIcGovern erred in concentrating on the Vietnam issue as much as he did in comparison to domestic concerns.32

Hypotheses concerning non-political structural "biases" of the medium in the context of a major presidential campaign were supported by the analysis. Action coverage of news events was easier and less costly when the events covered were domestic than when they were foreign. Television news producers' apparent decisions, as reflected in program content, supported this verity. The tremendous advantage of the incumbent candidate in elections was also re- flected in the 1972 campaign by the extent to which Nixon gained coverage in foreign affairs. This simply underlines the difficulty in divorcing the roles of incumbent officeholder and Head of State from that of a candidate contesting office who happens to be an incumbent. Issues discussed in news programming confounds the two roles.

It is clear from the analysis of the 1972 campaign that both foreign and domestic issues and events were covered in ways that were calculated to engage the viewing public and thereby stimulate network ratings. Television coverage was at least partially designed to engage viewer's attention. The findings suggest that budgeting and rating con- siderations may have been more important in deter- mining what was broadcast, and how, than the simple goal of disseminating clear and cogent information about current events taking place at home and abroad. The coincidence of all the hoopla and excitement induced by t h e creation of pseudo-events and pseudo-imagery involved in the presidential cam- paign could only have increased the amount of titilating coverage that consumed air time. Given the nature of television coverage of foreign affairs, it is no wonder that the foreign policy attentive public

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*Acknowledgement is owed to anonymous re- ferees for GPSA Journal for suggesting improve- ments in this paper, although the authors alone are responsible for errors of omission or com- mission.

lBernard C. Cohen, "Mass Communications and Foreign Policy," in James Rosenau, ed., Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy, (New York: Free Press, 1968), pp. 195-212, and The Public Impact on Foreign Policy, (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. , Inc. , 1973) , and James C. Strouse, The Mass Media, Public Opinion, and Public Policy Analysis, (Col- umbus: Charles E. Merrell, publishing company, 1975), for example, demonstrate the relevance of television.

2The benchmark voting studies of the 1960's such as Angus Campbell, et al. , The American Voter, (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1960) , and later studies such as Norman H. Nie, et - al. , The Changing American Voter , (Cambridge= Harvard University Press, 1976), either ignore more specific aspects of mass media or ignore the media altogether. Studies focusing specifically upon foreign affairs, moreover, such as Warren E. Miller , "Voting and Foreign Policy," in Rosenau, op. cit., pp. 213-230, include no detailed analy- sis of the role of mass media. The situation, however, is beginning to be rectified in some discussions of voting. See, for instance, Herbert Asher, Presidential Elections and American Poli- tics, (Homewood: Dorsey Press, 1976), and Dan Nimmo and Robert L. Savage, Candidates and Their Images, (Pacific Palisades: Goodyear Publishing Co., Inc., 1976). Perhaps the landmark study appeared in relation to British voting behavior. See Jay B. Blumler and Denis McQuail, Television in Politics, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968). In a more speculative vein, Kurt

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Lang and Gladys Engel. Lang, "Mass Media and Voting, 'I in Bernard Berelson and Morris Janowitz , eds., Reader in Public Opinion and Communication, (New York: Free Press, 1966) , is relevant. Mass media, of course, played an influential role in the classical Columbia voting studies by Paul Lazarsfeld, et al., The People's Choice, (New York: Duell, Sloan, and Smith, Inc., 19481, and Bernard Berelson, et al., Voting, (Chicago: Uni- versity of Chicago Press, 1954) , but the influence of the media was regarded primarily as reinforcing rather than as formative or converting in relation to partisan views.

3Pa~l H. Weaver , "Captives of Melodrama, I' New York Times Magazine, (August 26, 19761, pp. 6 ff. , and "Is Television News Biased?", The Public Interest, Nos. 25-28, (Winter, 1972) , pp. 57-74.

$Robert Agranof f , The Management of Election Campaigns, (Boston: Holbrook Press, Inc. , 1976) , pp. 323-360, James Brown and Philip M. Seib, The Art of Politics, (Port Washington: Alfred Pub- lishing Co., Inc., 1976), pp. 37-54, 105-118, and Dan Nimmo, The Political Persuaders, (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1970), pp. 111-162.

-

5Agranoff, op. cit., pp. 361-410.

6Joe McGinniss, The Selling of the Presi- dent, 1968, (New York: Trident Press, 1969), and Kurt Lang and Gladys Engel Lang, Politics and Television, (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, Inc., 1968) I pp. 289-310.

7Timothy Grouse, The Boys on the BUS, (New York: Ballantine Books, Inc. , 1969) , pp. 3-26, Edward J. Epstein, Between Fact and Fiction, (New York: Vintage Books, Inc., Chapter 1, 19751, and Susan Welch, "The American Press and Indochina; 1950-56," in Richard L. Merritt, ed., Communi-

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cation in International Politics, (Urbana: Uni- versity of Illinois Press, 1972), pp. 225-230.

8Edward J. Epstein, News from Nowhere, (New York: Random House, Inc., 1973), pp. 3-43.

g~eaver, loc cit.

loBernard Rubin, Political Television, (Bel- mont: Wadsworth Publishing Co., Inc., 19671, pp. 174-181, and Epstein, Between Fact and Fiction, loc cit.

llIbid.

l2Cliff Zukin and C. Richard Hofstetter, "The 1972 Election Through the Eyes of Television.," Journalism Quarterly, forthcoming, and Thomas E. Patterson, and Robert D. McClure, The Unseeing e, (New York: G . P. Putnam's Sons, 1976), Chapter 1.

13Weaver, loc cit, and Epstein, News from Nowhere, loc cit.

l'krouse, IOC cit.

15C. Richard Hofstetter, Bias in the News, (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1976), pp. 187-207, and "News Bias in the 1972 Campaign: A Cross-Media Comparison, 'I Journalism Mono- graphs, No. 58, (1978).

16Robert M. Batscha, Foreign Affairs News and the Broadcast Journalist, (New York: Praeger Publishers, Inc., 1975), Chapter 1, and Epstein, Between Fact and Fiction, loc cit.

l7Agranoff, loc cit.

18Theodore H. White, The Making of the Presi-

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dent, 1972, (New York: Bantam Books, Inc. , 1973) , pp. 308-313, 455-457.

19The larger project was supported by a con- tract to C. Richard Hofstetter from the American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D. C. See Hofstetter, op. cit.

201bid.

21Mary Jane Judge and C. Richard Hofstetter, Content Analysis of Taped Television News 'Stories: Coding Manual, (Columbus: Polimetrics Laboratory, Ohio State University, Mimeo, 1974), and C. Richard Hofstetter and Mary Jane Judge, Reliability of Television Election News Coverage: Content Coding, (Columbus: Polimetrics Labora- tory, Ohio State University, Mimeo, 1974).

221bid.

23Paul J. Strand and C. Richard Hofstetter, "Television News Coverage of the 1972 Election: A Convergent and Discriminant Validation of some Selected Indicators," Political Methodology, I11 , (1976), pp. 507-522.

24Hofstetter, Bias in the News, loc cit.

250nly small differences in the amount and treatment of news could be attributed to the three networks when percentages of stories were dis- tributed across the 17 weeks included in the analysis. This was no less true of foreign affairs news than of domestic coverage. Some illustrative data of network variation are pre- sented in the Appendix.

26Crouse, loc cit., and White, loc cit.

27Judge and Hofstetter , loc cit. Events,

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actions, and policies which are commonly regarded as desirable were considered to be socially de- sirable. Events, actions, and policies commonly regarded as undesirable were considered to be socially undesirable. Winning, being patriotic, striving for peace, and being honest are examples of socially desirable traits, while losing, being unpatriotic, contributing to war, and being dis- honest are examples of socially undesirable traits.

28Epstein, loc cit.

29Frederick T. Steeper and Robert M. Teeter, "Comment on ' A Majority Party in Disarray'," American Political Science Review, 70 (19761, p. 806.

30White, op cit., and Hofstetter, op cit.

31A national survey of the electorate con- cerning the role and influence of the mass media (especially television) was conducted shortly before and after the 1972 election. While the survey did not prove that television news coverage of foreign affairs shaped viewer perceptions, statistical analysis demonstrated that Vietnam was the dominant concern of the public and that Vietnam was mentioned more by those who reported watching television network news more frequently. This was particularly true of those who were also highly involved in the election and who were Democratic Party identifiers. Respondents in the survey who reported that the news had stimulated them to new thinking about a political problem or candidate were also more likely to mention Vietnam than were others. Respondents were more likely to mention Vietnam if they watched network news more frequently than less frequently, although dif- ferences were slight.

The impact of television is clearly esta-

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b l i s h e d , a l t h o u g h t h e “ l a w o f min ima l c o n s e - q u e n c e s “ h a s been s u p p l a n t e d by o t h e r , more r e c e n t s t u d i e s . These s t u d i e s s u g g e s t t h a t t h e ways i n which t h e medium is u s e d ( B l u m l e r and M c Q u a i l , % - c i t . ) , making d i s t i n c t i o n s be tween p e r s u a s i v e and mod i fy ing e f f e c t s ( N i m m o , The P o l i t i c a l Pe r - s u a d e r s , o p . c i t . and M c C l u r e and P a t t e r s o n , op, - c i t . ) , and c o n s i d e r a t i o n s o f a g e n d a - s e t t i n g (Cohen, ’ loc. c i t . ) a re a l l i m p o r t a n t i s a s s e s s i n g t h e impac t o f t h e m e d i u m . I n summar iz ing a l a r g e body o f l i t e r a t u r e , Gary L . Wamsley and R i c h a r d L . P r i c e , “ T e l e v i s i o n Network N e w s : R e - t h i n k i n g t h e I c e b e r g P r o b l e m , ” Wes te rn P o l i t i c a l Q u a r t e r l y , 2 5 , ( 1 9 7 2 ) , pp. 343-350, a r g u e t h a t t e l e v i s i o n news i n f l u e n c e s p e o p l e t h r o u g h i t s e m o t i o n a l i m p a c t , f o c u s i n g a t t e n t i o n , and long- t e rm g r a d u a l s h i f t s i n v i e w s .

3 2 S t e e p e r and T e e t e r , loc. c i t .

Append i x

I t is a l w a y s p r o b l e m a t i c t o c o n c l u d e t h a t t w o v a r i a b l e s are “ s i m i l a r ” or “ d i f f e r e n t . ‘I T h i s is e s p e c i a l l y t r u e when a u n i v e r s e o f d a t a , r a t h e r t h a n a p r o b a b i l i t y s ample o f d a t a , is b e i n g a n a l y z e d and tests o f s t a t i s t i c a l s i g n i f i c a n c e a r e c o n s e q u e n t l y i n a p p r o p r i a t e . U l t i m a t e l y , how much d i f f e r e n c e i s n e c e s s a r y to c o n c l u d e t h a t c o v e r a g e o f f o r e i g n a f f a i r s v a r i e d by ne twork is a m a t t e r o f judgment . The p u r p o s e o f t h i s Appendix is to p r e s e n t some d a t a t h a t b e a r o n t h e s imi l a r - i t i e s and d i f f e r e n c e s i n ne twork t r e a t m e n t o f f o r e i g n a f f a i r s news. Special a t t e n t i o n is de - v o t e d to t h e modal f o r e i g n a f f a i r s i s sue d u r i n g t h e campaign , Vie tnam.

I n g e n e r a l , t h e d a t a s u g g e s t s t h a t no “ theo r - e t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t ” d i f f e r e n c e s were p r e s e n t i n

115

f o r e i g n a f f a i r s coverage between networks. I t is c l e a r , f o r i n s t a n c e , t h a t CBS, NBC, and ABC devoted a similar amount o f a t t e n t i o n t o Vietnam (16.9, 19.4, and 18.4 p e r c e n t , r e s p e c t i v e l y ) . Each network a l s o devoted about t h e same p e r c e n t of coverage t o o t h e r f o r e i g n a f f a i r s (non-Viet- nam) s tor ies (11.5, 15 .5 , and 1 3 . 6 p e r c e n t f o r CBS, NBC, and ABC, r e s p e c t i v e l y ) . D i f f e r e n c e s i n t h e amount of time devoted to coverage mirror d i f f e r e n c e s i n t h e p r o p o r t i o n of s tor ies w i t h o n l y s l i g h t e x c e p t i o n s . Most d i f f e r e n c e s p a l e i n s i g n i f i c a n c e when t h e 17-week p e r i o d d u r i n g which s tor ies were b r o a d c a s t is taken i n t o account .

Data concern ing t h e p e r c e n t a g e o f s tor ies and time devoted to Vietnam coverage are p r e s e n t e d i n Table A - 1 f o r each t w o w e e k p e r i o d (or f r a c t i o n ) . NBC p r e s e n t e d more and ABC less Vietnam coverage than CBS, w i t h few e x c e p t i o n s . B u t most of t h e s e d i f f e r e n c e s a r e too s l i g h t and i n c o n s i s t e n t to w a r r a n t concluding t h a t t h e networks t r e a t e d t h e issues i n a s u f f i c i e n t l y d i f f e r e n t way.

On t h e o t h e r hand, CBS d e v o t e d about 305 minutes t o Vietnam; NBC, 336 m i n u t e s t o t h e s u b j e c t ; and ABC, 256 minutes t o Vietnam. ABC gave 80 minutes less t h a n NBC to t h e i s sue . T h i s r e p r e s e n t s t h e maximum d i f f e r e n c e s i n coverage. D i s t r i b u t e d throughout 17 w e e k s , t h e d i f f e r e n c e is h a r d l y s i g n i f i c a n t .

Data i n Table A-2 s u g g e s t t h a t q u a l i t a t i v e d i f f e r e n c e s i n f a v o r a b l e , u n f a v o r a b l e , and n e u t r a l s t o r y c o n t e n t was even less t h a n d i f - f e r e n c e s i n t h e amounts o f exposure . D i f f e r e n c e s between networks are s m a l l , a l t h o u g h t h e same g e n e r a l p a t t e r n s are r e p e a t e d . The modal c a t e g o r y of Vietnam coverage is n e u t r a l or ambiguous. More unfavorable t h a n f a v o r a b l e coverage is devoted to t h e issue. None of t h e networks r e p o r t e d v e r y many c l e a r l y f a v o r a b l e s to r i e s , a l t h o u g h t h e p r o p o r t i o n f a v o r a b l e i n c r e a s e d v e r y s l i g h t l y

116

Tim

e P

erio

d --

July

10 -

July

21

July 24

- Aug

ust

4 A

uols

t 7

- A

ugus

t 18

Aug

ust 21 -

Sep

tem

ber 1

Gcp

tem

ber

4 - S

epte

mbe

r 15

Sep

tem

ber 18 -

Sep

tem

ber 29

Oct

ober

2 -

Oct

ober

1' O

ctob

ar 16

- Oct

ober

27

Oct

ober

30

- Nov

embe

r 6

Tab

le A

-1

Wee

kday

Net

wor

k N

ews

Cov

erag

e of

Vie

tnam

by

Tim

e.a

Net

wor

k

% S

tori

es

(N)

% T

ime

17.2

(21)

10.0

18.4

(30)

22.8

16.7

(28)

10.0

15.8

(29)

10.3

15.3

(26)

26.7

15.6

(26)

17.6

19.9

(28)

21.4

18.0

(20)

20.9

.17.6

(28)

15.0

% S

tori

es

(N)

% T

ime -

16.7

14.4

22.4

17.2

21.1

19.2

24.7'

19.1

17.5

AW:

% S

tori

es

(N)

$ T

jme

12.6

(19)

9.5

15.3

(2

3)

4.7

25.0

(59)

19.2

14.0

(22

) 8.

9 20

.3

(31)

10.5

23.5

(36)

34.9

14.7

(23)

15.8

18.1

(30

) 16.2

22.2

(22)

25.5

'Per

cent

ages

m

a b

ased

on

the

tota

l nu

mbe

r of

st

ori

eb

or

the

tota

l am

ount

of

tim

e de

vote

d to

all

sto

rie

s for

the

tim

e p

erio

d.

Num

bers

in

par

enth

eses

rep

rese

nt

the

num

ber

of

sto

rie

s.

Tab

le A

-2

Fav

orab

le4

Neu

tral

, an

d U

nfav

orab

le T

V N

ew8

Con

tent

abo

ut V

iet,

w by

Net

wor

k

and

Time

During

the

1972

-

NBC

ABC

CBS -

Tim

e P

erio

db

Fav

orab

le

Neu

tral

U

nfav

orab

le.

Fav

orab

le

Neu

tral

U

nfav

orab

le

Fav

orab

le

Neu

tral

U

nfav

orab

le

Ear

ly

1.0

%

90.4

8.7

(1

04)

1.7%

84.5

13

.8 (116)

2.0%

78

.2

19.8

(1

01)

Lat

e 3

.6

85'6

11

.2

(125

) 2.2

%

87.9

9.9

(1

82)

2.196

85

.9 12

.0

(142

)

'Per

cent

ages

rep

reae

nt

the

num

ber

of

sto

rie

s ab

out

Vie

tnam

wit

hin

eac

h ti

me

peri

od.

b!l'h

e ea

rly

per

iod

com

pris

es c

over

ege

duri

ng J

uly

and

Aug

ust,

whi

le t

he l

ate

r pe

riod

com

pris

es c

over

age

duri

ng

Sep

tem

ber,

Oct

ober

, an

d ea

rly

Nov

embe

r.

later in the campaign. The percentage of un- favorable stories declines and the percentage of neutral stories increased during the campaign on NBC and ABC, although CBS ocverage did not follow this pattern. Generally, similar patterns were apparent in non-Vietnam foreign affairs coverage. Once time is taken into consideration, however, differences appear to be slight at best.

A much more intensive analysis of general news coverage suggested that network news reporting of events during the 1972 campaign was similar with regard to a vast array of factors. (Hofstetter, op. cit.) Indeed, the greater the variety of factors taken into consideration, the smaller and less systematic the differences that appeared be tween networks .

119