Style over Substance: Newspaper Coverage of Elizabeth Dole's Presidential Bid

Abstract

This analysis compares newspaper coverage of Elizabeth Dole's presidential campaign with that of former Texas Governor George W. Bush, Arizona Senator John McCain, and publisher Steve Forbes. The authors examined three months of coverage in the Des Moines Register, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and the Washington Post. Dole received less coverage than did Bush, but more than McCain and Forbes. However, the authors found qualitative differences in coverage that they attributed to Dole's gender. Compared to her male opponents, Dole received less coverage on her positions on the issues but more coverage on her personal traits. The authors conclude that these differences were due to stories written by male reporters covering the 2000 presidential campaign. The authors also found that Dole was quoted in different ways when compared to her male opponents: she was directly quoted at a lower rate, while her speech was paraphrased at a higher rate.