First Impressions, “America's Paper” and Pre-Primary Black Presidential Candidates: The New York Times Coverage of Rev. Jesse Jackson (1983), Rev. AI Sharpton (2003), and Sen. Barack Obama (2007) Campaign Announcements and Initial Days

Abstract

Recent research documents how party rules, election reforms, and the growth of primaries and caucuses have greatly changed the presidential nomination process. Acknowledging that most Americans get their information about presidential candidates through the news and that mass media have played a significant role in introducing candidates to potential voters, I conduct an longitudinal content analysis of the New York Times articles to ethnographically explain how language, article placement and content in ‘America's Paper’ has significantly impacted the framing of black presidential candidates' pre-primary presidential campaigns. In particular, the data reveal how the newspaper's coverage of the candidates appears to vary based on perceived viability and as willingness to vote for a black president increases.