Media Coverage of the 1994 Elections
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The 1994 elections were characterized by what most observers considered one of the more issueless, low-level campaigning seasons ever (S(ub)lime race of the year, 1994, p. 4). Within this context, the media's coverage of those campaigns was hampered by an evolving fact of news life: politicians are now incredibly media-savvy. It is difficult for a reporter to develop an objective account when the words and actions of the campaigners are so controlled. Such was the case in the recent California senatorial contest between incumbent Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, and challenger Michael Huffington, representing the Republican Party. In terms of the television and radio media, the candidates could control what was reported to the extent that they spoke to those media in ubiquitous "sound bites," arranging their campaign stops in terms of "photo ops." The nature of television, particularly, worked in the candidates' favor: television reportage is notoriously short-form. The print media, however, is a different matter. Able to assign reporters to cover the candidates over the long term, and needing more than sound bite-shortened speech clips to fill their pages, the print media covered the Feinstein-Huffington race in great detail. It was a degree of detail often not appreciated by the candidates - and not always exploited to its full potential by the print media itself. The dynamics of this interaction between the print media and candidates Feinstein and Huffington will
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s. Feinstein led the fight for an assault-weapons ban, defining it in personal terms (she first became San Francisco's mayor upon the 1978 assassination of Mayor George Moscone), personal terms that in both a "woman's" rhetoric and the slogans of "anti-crime" sentiment drew newspaper attention.
In attracting print media attention, Senator Feinstein was aided by Representative Huffington's congressional reticence. On one occasion, The New Yorker reported:
When the defense contractor Raytheon, which had a large plant in Huffington's district, needed federal regulatory relief in order to save two hundred and fifty jobs, he flatly refused to help, offering the explanation that he was not in the business of serving special interests. Raytheon turned to Senator Feinstein, who help push through the regulatory assistance (Blumenthal, p. 60).
The print media in California was not altogether uncritical of Feinstein. More aggressively than television stations, newspapers like to take editorial stances and, in most instances, participate in the electoral process by endorsing various candidates. Successful newspapers get that way by building a large advertising base contingent upon circulation figures. It is only logical that a succes
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3002
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)
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