How Australia Decides: Election Reporting and the MediaIn recent years, the Australian media have come under fire for their reporting of politics and election campaigns. Political reporting is said to be too influenced by commercial concerns, too obsessed with gossip and scandal, and too focused on trivia and 'sound bites' at the expense of serious issues. There are accusations of bias, sensationalism, 'lazy' journalism and 'horse-race' reporting that is obsessed with opinion polls. How Australia Decides is the first book to put these allegations to the test. Based on a four-year empirical study, Sally Young reports the results of the only systematic, historical and in-depth analysis of Australian election reporting. This groundbreaking book shows how election reporting has changed over time, and how political news audiences, news production and shifts in political campaigning are influencing media content – with profound implications for Australian democracy. |
Contents
1 | |
The political news audience | 23 |
The elite public sphere | 42 |
The popular public sphere | 61 |
Elections and audiences | 84 |
Where does election news come from | 105 |
election news | 173 |
News political reporting and the internet | 203 |
Bias | 229 |
News the public and democracy | 255 |
Appendix | 281 |
Index | 309 |
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Common terms and phrases
advertising agenda argued asylum-seekers bias blogs broadsheet bulletins Canberra candidates Channel Nine Channel Seven Chapter citizens Coalition commercial coverage Crikey critics current affairs programs Daily Telegraph debate democracy editorial election campaign election reporting electoral elite audience elite media entertainment especially example Fairfax Fairfax Media Figure focus focused free-to-air Herald Sun Howard government influence interested in politics interviews issues journalism journalists Kerry Packer Labor Latham Laurie Oakes leaders less Liberal major parties Mark Latham media content media organisations media outlets media reports Melbourne National National Nine networking newspapers Ninemsn October opinion polls OzTAM partisan pay TV percentages political junkies political reporting politicians polling night popular population Press Gallery primetime psephology public broadcasting public sphere ratings role Roy Morgan Research Rudd social Source stories Table tabloid talkback radio tend Today Tonight viewers views vote watching websites WorkChoices