| Online news is increasing in importance as a source of political information. Does this new medium affect how and what voters learn about elections? This study compares traditional and online news media coverage of the U.S. presidential primary election in 2000 to determine whether voters who relied on online news for information would have been informed in the same way as voters who relied on traditional media. Using a content analysis, more than 1,000 election stories were coded from the front pages of three newspapers, three online newspapers, three online broadcast sites, and two online-only news sites. The analysis compared the stories from the four media types using three separates indexes: agenda setting, framing and presentation.; Using traditional agenda setting measures, newspapers covered the election most prominently, followed by online newspapers, online broadcast sites and online-only news. Online-only news sites contained the largest number of stories about the election, but they were shorter, generally of low prominence on the front page, and rarely included visual information.; The second index measured the content and framing of election stories. All media sources focused far more on the Republican race than on the Democratic race and provided few stories about policy issues. Online-only news sites carried far more opinion and commentary than any of the other media sources, and used far fewer candidate quotes and fewer news sources. Newspapers quoted the most individual sources, including the most anonymous sources. Online broadcast stories tended to focus the most on strategy and the horse race, and on descriptive, episodic and personal framing of stories. Online-only news sources, on the other hand, focused far less on campaign strategy and horse race coverage, and were more interpretive, thematic and institutional.; The third index measured the characteristics of each media type related to learning. Newspapers scored the lowest on this index, with all online sites scoring much higher. Overall, it appears that the emphasis, style, content and presentation of news changes significantly online, compared with newspapers. Online news appears more subjective, more personal, more engaging to the reader and less tied to the traditional news values of objectivity, balance and detachment. |
