Black mayoral candidates and the press: Running for coverage

Abstract

The author studied newspaper coverage of the last month of mayoral races in four cities that, for the first time, featured viable Black candidates. The study, spanning 23 years, finds that newspapers gave different treatment to the two racial candidate groups. Among other things, Black candidates received more positive coverage than expected—including more front‐page, above‐the‐fold coverage. But the price for that coverage seemed to come in stories dealing with Black candidates' ethical qualities—a much stronger look than that given to White candidates. Although the issue of race seemed to gain mention over time, most stories still featured the traditional campaign‐type coverage, with policy themes a fairly distant second. In terms of bias, although Black candidates received slightly more negative coverage, most stories about the elections were either positive, balanced, or neutral, indicating journalists may want to examine such coverage to determine whether an inordinate amount of control by the candid...