A Matter of Language or Culture: Coverage of the 2004 U.S. Elections on Spanish- and English-Language Television

Abstract

This article fills a gap in the communication and political science literature by comparing how Spanish- and English-language television stations cover U.S. elections. A content analysis of more than 400 national network news stories and nearly 3,000 local news stories reveals that local and network Spanish-language stations provide less election coverage than their English-language counterparts. Although Spanish-language stations are more likely to focus election coverage on “Latino” issues or interests, the results indicate only moderate differences in how stations in each language frame their election stories, with stations in both languages concentrating more coverage around campaign strategy and the horse race than substantive issues.