The Bully Pulpit and Media Coverage

Abstract

Though modern presidents seem to be less persuasive in their public campaigns for policy, they are more likely to go public. In addition, they publicly campaign for policies that they could enact without the support of Congress or the public. The dominant view emphasizes the persuasive capacity of the president or his ability to set the agenda of various government institutions; however, this neglects one of the more powerful components of the bully pulpit. I demonstrate that presidents can use the bully pulpit to remove issues from the national news agenda with relative ease. By modeling the daily change in national media content, I show that presidents can divert the attention of the national media away from issues that are less desirable toward more favorable issues with a single televised address. This suggests that the bully pulpit is more powerful than the current literature expects.