Press Issue Agendas in the 1982 Congressional and Gubernatorial Election Campaigns

Abstract

This article reports findings from a content analysis of press coverage of U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and gubernatorial election campaigns in twelve metropolitan newspapers for a one-month period in the autumn of 1982. The primary focus of the research is upon which public policy issues were most extensively covered in each type of race in each newspaper. It was found that House and Senate campaign agendas exhibit some similarity, although certain issues are emphasized in one area and ignored in others. Gubernatorial campaign press agendas are quite specific to the states in which they occur. The dominant issues in the congressional races can be categorized as the political economy of the Reagan presidency. It is argued that the press issue agendas are largely derived from the established institutional agendas of the political system, rather than from the press itself.