Abstract
This paper tests several factors hypothesized to influence the visibility of the two candidates running for Bundeskanzler at the 1990 German national elections: the incumbent Helmut Kohl and the contender, Oskar Lafontaine. In a survey of the main news bulletins aired during the final seven weeks of the campaign by the major public service channels ARD and ZDF and the leading private channels SAT1 and RTL, type of event emerged as the most powerful determinant of TV attention. In terms of making it into the news both candidates were most successful with typical pseudo-events. Campaign issues had no significant effect on the candidates' appearances on television but the TV channels with their different news styles and policies were sources both of main effects and of interaction effects. The candidates had much more coverage in the bulletins of the public service channels than on private TV. This was superimposed by a resonance effect originating from the different political preferences of the channels which reacted differently to the specific event types which favoured each candidate. The results are interpreted with reference to the idea of a `discretionary power' wielded by either one or the other.
Published Version
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