Different Year, (Mostly) Same Coverage: Comparing the 2016 and 2020 Election News Posted on Facebook-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Different Year, (Mostly) Same Coverage: Comparing the 2016 and 2020 Election News Posted on Facebook

Published:2024-07-24 Issue: Volume: Page:
ISSN:1077-6990
Container-title:Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly
language:en
Short-container-title:Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly

Author:

Donaway Rebecca R.¹,Silva David E.²^ORCID,Hutchens Myiah J.³

Affiliation:

1. Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA, USA

2. Kent State University, OH, USA

3. University of Florida, Gainesville, USA

Abstract

Presidential elections typically follow a consistent pattern of news coverage. After the 2016 election, the news media faced intense criticism, a process called metajournalistic discourse. This research seeks to understand how election coverage may have shifted in 2020 considering this public scrutiny. By conducting a quantitative content analysis of news posted on Facebook during the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential campaigns, we show that despite self-reflective calls to do better, much of the campaign coverage remained unchanged in 2020. Finally, we detail how election coverage from traditional, partisan, and online-first networks evolved (or not) between 2016 and 2020.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Link

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/10776990241260832

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