Includes bibliographical references and index.

This book examines news coverage of presidential nominations and election campaigns from 1988 to 2008. The book focuses on change sin the amount, tone, and focus of news coverage in these different electoral contexts. In addition to network news, the authors examine online news, cable television, talk radio, and candidate campaign discourse in these election years. Stephen J. Farnsworth and S. Robert Lichter find that the news media, despite the wide variety of outlets, have consistent problems with a lack of fairness and a focus on horse-race reporting of the latest polls rather than on more substantive matters. In addition to the extensive discussion of the 2008 campaign, the third edition offers far more discussion and evidence regarding the use of alternative media, including online content, in the most recent presidential election The authors conclude that online news had many of the same problems found in mainstream news coverage.

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