Abstract
News norms and routines explain many of the factors influencing political news coverage today. In satisfying competitive pressures and the 24-hour news hole, scholars cite growing—albeit troubling—trends in campaign news coverage including negativity, soft news, and cynicism. This paper extends the theoretical conventions of news norms and routines to the spectacle of mediated presidential debates. Using a sample of transcripts from US presidential debates, 1992–2012, this qualitative content analysis explores the extent to which news norms and values in the new news environment influence moderator debate agendas, extending previous research to span multiple election cycles. I find that news routines condition journalists moderating debates to pose soft news, cynical and conflict-driven debate questions which may ultimately crowd out more informative policy-related content.
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