Local News Coverage in a Social Capital Capital: Election 2000 on Minnesota's Local News Stations

Abstract

This article examines local news coverage of an election in one of the nation's “social capital capitals,” Minnesota. In Minnesota, according to theorized connections between civic involvement and news media use, we might expect the orientation of local news to be local and the quality of coverage of local campaigns to be high. Content analysis of all evening newscasts on all four non-cable channels in the Minneapolis market (the 13th largest television market in the United States) for the 12 weeks leading to the day of the election yielded striking evidence on the amount and nature of local television news coverage. The predominant news emphasis was on the presidential race, with considerably less attention to the close U.S. Senate contest, and very little or nothing on any other race; local television news was mostly not local. As with previous studies, this analysis showed prime emphasis on strategy and game, while the far fewer “issue” stories tended to be thin. These local television news shows also offered very little airtime with candidates speaking directly. In addition, seven focus groups were conducted in Minnesota, in which subjects were asked about local television news coverage. Subjects expressed frustration with the brevity and superficiality of election news stories and with the stations' claims of providing in-depth coverage. Judging by our data, levels of civic and political involvement in Minnesota may remain high despite, rather than because of, political coverage by local television news.