Developing an Ad-Reporting Typology

Abstract

In a media environment where political ads influence U.S. news coverage, does the press hold politicians accountable for their ad claims? Using semantic network analysis, four types of reporting styles distinguished the ad coverage of 18 sampled newspapers and online fact-checkers from the 2008 presidential election. Horserace reporting characterized the largest group, whereas other models included partisan, he-said/she-said, and fact-checking. If educating the public about the accuracy of political ad claims is a goal of journalism, this study suggests that high-quality political adwatching following the fact-checking journalistic model did not predominate in the 2008 political ad coverage of newspapers.