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Abstract

This work generally describes media coverage of postelection litigation in Florida following the 2000 presidential election. Examining some of the ways the broadcast media covered certain legal issues arising from the litigation, the research concentrates on legal issues surrounding the infamous Palm Beach County “butterfly ballot” and equal protection litigation in the federal courts. The data are drawn from content analysis of evening news broadcast of the three major television networks, NBC, CBS, and ABC, from November 7 to December 13, 2000, the day following the final decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. The research concludes that the broadcast media substantially overlooked the equal protection issue until the very end of the postelection campaign and thus failed to educate the public on what turned out to be the most decisive and important issue in the Supreme Court’s decision to halt the manual recounts in Florida.

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Voting From the Bench

Abstract

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