Comparison between press coverage of presidential campaigns and the agenda of journalists conducting debates

Abstract

Campaign coverage would prefer strategic game and personalization topics more than public policy proposals. Instead, electoral debates on television are expected differentiate from the journalistic routine. Through a content analysis, the journalists’ agenda in four Chilean presidential debates is compared with that of the written press in the coverage of the respective campaigns. The results show that journalists in the debates focus on public policies, while the press concentrates on strategies or political issues.