Changing Ways of Calling for Change: Media Coverage of the 1992 Campaign

The 1992 Presidential campaign proved to be the ultimate media campaign of the past two decades during which this electioneering mode has dominated American politics. The essay that follows is framed primarily in terms of major foci shaping the mediated aspects of such campaigns, including the framing of the initial campaign and the eventual winnowing of the candidates, press performance and media bias, campaign advertising, and televised debates. In addition, two major elements shaping media coverage that were more or less unique to the 1992 campaign are examined. While tentative efforts were taken by journalists in 1988 and 1990 to mediate candidate-produced messages, the 1992 campaign is the first in which a number of media organizations attempted some systematic efforts in this regard. Moreover, the Ross Perot candidacy was the most important “third-party” candidacy in eight decades, producing a number of changes in the process of media coverage for a Presidential campaign. In sum, from a communication perspective, it was a very interesting campaign, the portents of which are unclear at present.