Who’s Citing Whom?

Abstract

In a news environment that falls short in covering public priorities, debates play an important role in bringing electoral politics closer to constituents. Given that political elites routinely influence campaign news through the gatekeeping process of source selection and that journalists facilitate debates, it is worth examining the indexing of elite sources in these campaign events. This study uniquely explores the routines of news professionals in debates by examining source selection. This study finds that debate questions citing exogenous sources tap political elites far more frequently than members of the public and identifies media characteristics predictive of elite indexing.