Richard A. Joslyn

The Content of Political Spot Ads

b Political campaigns are periods of time during which candidates for public office transmit information to potential voters in an attempt to create support for ones candidacy and to convince voters that they should vote in a particular way on election day. The type and amount of information transmitted by candidates and their operatives depends upon the resources of the campaign. the environment in which the campaign is conducted, the strategy adopted by the candidates organization and the assumptions that campaigners make about voter motivations. One of the most important vehicles for transmitting campaign information has become the paid political broadcast spot advertisement. Spot ads may be used to communicate with a large proportion of most large constituencies. they may be targetted to particular demographic or attitudinal groups and they are one of the few forms of communication over which the candidate has almost complete control. Their utility may be demonstrated by the amounts of money that candidates have

Election Night News Coverage: The Limitations of Story-Telling

On election night every two years, the three major television networks provide extensive coverage of the election returns. Recently this coverage has engendered considerable controversy because of the timing of election predictions and the use of exit poll data. These questions raise important questions about competing democratic principles. And yet there are other ways in which televisions election night coverage is equally controversial for civic education but which have escaped public scrutiny. As social scientists we became interested in what citizens can learn about the electoral process from watching election night coverage. What is the nature and logical structure of explanations which the networks offer of electoral outcomes? To what extent are the presentations informed by social science research which is widely available to the public?

Election Night News Coverage as Political Ritual

Television news coverage on election night provides a rapid reporting of results, but it does more than just that. It also, this article argues, presents a particular understanding of the political system to its viewers. Beyond the reporting of electoral outcomes, the authors find election night television to be important as a political ritual in which the positive aspects of the political system are emphasized following a period of divisive electioneering. They find that TV commentators go well beyond their usual journalistic role as reporter to offer through their analyses and interpretations a broad symbolic reassurance to their viewers. From this perspective, political ritual is important, not because it resolves real differences between citizens, but because it draws their attention away from those differences and toward common and shared sentiments.