Previous research has shown that visual images of political candidates can influence voter perceptions. This study examines newspaper photographs of candidates to determine whether the favorableness of these pictures is related to the “political atmosphere” of individual newspapers. In particular, we examine 435 candidate photographs from several races covered by seven newspapers during the 1998 and 2002 general election seasons. Based on our analysis, we conclude that candidates endorsed by a particular newspaper—or whose political leanings match the political atmosphere of a given paper—generally have more favorable photographs of them published than their opponents.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alterman, Eric. 2003. What Liberal Media?: The Truth About Bias and the News. New York: Basic Books.
2.
Argyle, Michael, Florisse Alkema, and Robin Gilmour. 1971. “The Communication of Friendly and Hostile Attitudes by Verbal and Non-Verbal Signals.”European Journal of Social Psychology1: 385-402.
3.
Barrett, Andrew W., and Lowell W. Barrington. 2005. “Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Newspaper Photographs and Voter Evaluations of Political Candidates.”Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics10: 98-113..
4.
Bystrom, Dianne G., Terry A. Robertson, and Mary Christine Banwart. 2001. “Framing the Fight: An Analysis of Media Coverage of Male and Female Candidates in Primary Races for Governor and U.S. Senate in 2000.”American Behavioral Scientist44: 1999-2013.
5.
Carter, Sue, Frederick Fico, and Jocelyn A. McCabe. 2002. “Partisan and Structural Balance in Local Television Election Coverage.”Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly79: 41-53.
6.
Coulter, Ann H.2002. Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right. New York: Crown.
7.
Covington, Cary R., Kent Kroeger, Glenn Richardson, and J. David Woodard. 1993. “Shaping a Candidate’s Image in the Press: Ronald Reagan and the 1980 Presidential Election.”Political Research Quarterly46: 783-798.
8.
D’Alessio, Dave, and Mike Allen. 2000. “Media Bias in Presidential Elections: A Meta-Analysis.”Journal of Communication50: 133-156.
9.
Dalton, Russell J., Paul A. Beck, and Robert Huckfeldt. 1998. “Partisan Cues and the Media: Information Flows in the 1992 Presidential Election.”American Political Science Review92: 111-126.
10.
Davis, Richard. 2001. The Press and American Politics: The New Mediator. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
11.
Domke, David, David P. Fan, Michael Fibison, Dhavan V. Shah, Steven S. Smith, and Mark D. Watts. 1997. “News Media, Candidates and Issues, and Public Opinion in the 1996 Presidential Election.”Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly74: 718-737.
12.
Domke, David, Mark D. Watts, Dhavan Shah, and David P. Fan. 1999. “The Politics of Conservative Elites and the ‘Liberal Media’ Argument.”Journal of Communication49: 35-58.
Gilliam, Franklin D., and Shanto Iyengar. 2000. “Prime Suspects: The Influence of Local Television News on the Viewing Public.”American Journal of Political Science44: 560-573.
15.
Goldberg, Bernard. 2001. Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News. Washington, DC: Regnery.
16.
Goldman, Robert, and Gloria L. Beeker. 1985. “Decoding Newsphotos: An Analysis of Embedded Ideological Values.”Humanity and Society9: 351-363.
17.
Graber, Doris A.1972. “Personal Qualities in Presidential Images: The Contribution of the Press.”Midwest Journal of Political Science16: 46-76.
18.
Graber, Doris A.1987. “Kind Words and Harsh Pictures: How Television Presents the Candidates.” In Kay Lehman Schlozman, ed., Elections in America. Boston, MA: Allen & Unwin.
19.
Graber, Doris A.1990. “Seeing Is Remembering: How Visuals Contribute to Learning from Television News.”Journal of Communication40: 134-155.
20.
Kahn, Kim Fridkin, and Patrick J. Kenney. 2002. “The Slant of the News: How Editorial Endorsements Influence Campaign Coverage and Citizens’ Views of Candidates.”American Political Science Review96: 381-394.
21.
Kepplinger, Hans Mathias. 1982. “Visual Biases in Television Campaign Coverage.”Communication Research9: 432-446.
22.
King, Putsung. 1997. “The Press, Candidate Images, and Voter Perceptions.” In Maxwell McCombs, Donald L. Shaw, and David Weaver, eds., Communication and Democracy: Exploring the Intellectual Frontiers in Agenda-Setting Theory. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
23.
Lang, Annie, John Newhagen, and Byron Reeves. 1996. “Negative Video as Structure: Emotion, Attention, Capacity, and Memory.”Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media40: 460-477.
24.
Lee, Martin A., and Norman Solomon. 1990. Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in News Media. Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart.
25.
Martin, D. S.1978. “Person Perception and Real-Life Electoral Behavior.”Australian Journal of Psychology30: 255-262.
26.
Masters, Roger D., and Denis G. Sullivan. 1989. “Nonverbal Displays and Political Leadership in France and the United States.”Political Behavior11: 123-156.
27.
McCombs, Maxwell, Juan Pablo Llamas, Esteban Lopez-Escobar, and Federico Rey. 1997. “Candidate Images in Spanish Elections: Second-Level Agenda-Setting Effects.”Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly74: 703-717.
28.
Moriarty, Sandra E., and Gina M. Garramone. 1986. “A Study of Newsmagazine Photographs of the 1984 Presidential Campaign.”Journalism Quarterly63: 728-734.
29.
Moriarty, Sandra E., and Mark N. Popvich. 1991. “Newsmagazine Visuals and the 1988 Presidential Election.”Journalism Quarterly68: 371-380.
30.
Mutz, Diana C.1992. “Mass Media and the Depoliticization of Personal Experience.”American Journal of Political Science36: 483-508.
31.
Nisbett, Richard E., and Lee Ross. 1980. Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
32.
Niven, David. 1999. “Partisan Bias in the Media?: A New Test.”Social Science Quarterly80: 847-857.
33.
Ottati, Victor C., and Megan Deiger. 2002. “Visual Cues and the Candidate Evaluation Process.” In Ottati, R.Scott Tindale, John Edwards, Fred B. Bryant, Linda Heath, Daniel C. O’Connell, Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar, and Emil J. Posavac, eds., Social Psychology of Politics: Social Psychological Applications to Social Issues, Vol. 6. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
34.
Page, Benjamin I.1996. Who Deliberates? Mass Media in Modern Democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
35.
Paletz, David L., and Robert M. Entman. 1981. Media Power Politics. New York: Free Press.
36.
Palvio, Allan. 1991. Images in Mind: The Evolution of a Theory. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
37.
Patterson, Thomas. 1993. Out of Order. New York: Knopf.
38.
Riggle, Ellen D.1992. “Cognitive Strategies and Candidate Evaluations.”American Politics Quarterly20: 227-246.
39.
Rosenberg, Shawn W., Lisa Bohan, Patrick McCafferty, and Kevin Harris. 1986. “The Image and the Vote: The Effect of Candidate Presentation on Voter Preference.”American Journal of Political Science30: 108-127.
40.
Rosenberg, Shawn W., and Patrick McCafferty. 1987. “The Image and the Vote: Manipulating Voters’ Preferences.”Public Opinion Quarterly51: 31-47.
41.
Rowse, Arthur Edwards. 1957. Slanted News: A Case Study of the Nixon and Stevenson Fund Stories. Boston, MA: Beacon.
42.
Rubin, Richard. 1981. Press, Party and Presidency. New York: Norton.
43.
Schein, Edgar H.1985. Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
44.
Stanley, Harold, and Richard Niemi. 1994. Vital Statistics on American Politics. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press.
45.
Sullivan, Denis G., and Roger D. Masters. 1988. “’Happy Warriors’: Leaders’ Facial Displays, Viewers’ Emotions, and Political Support.”American Journal of Political Science32: 345-368.
46.
Waldman, Paul, and James Devitt. 1998. “Newspaper Photographs and the 1996 Presidential Election: The Question of Bias.”Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly75: 302-311.
47.
Wanta, Wayne. 1986. “The Effects of Dominant Photographs: An Agenda Setting Experiment.”Journalism Quarterly63: 728-734.
48.
Windhauser, John W., and Dru Riley Evarts. 1991. “Watching the Campaigns on Network Television.” In Guido H. Stempel III, and John W. Windhauser, eds., The Media in the 1984 and 1988 Presidential Campaigns. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
