Framing by Reporters, Partisan, and Nonpartisan Sources in Newspaper Coverage of U.S. Senate Races in 2004.

Candidate portrayals in newspaper election coverage affect how campaigns are conducted and may even influence the outcomes of those contests. This study examined frames in nine of the 34 Senates races from 2004 to examine the type, source, and target of frames used in campaign newspaper coverage. “Horse-race” strategy frames were the most common frames overall and a preferred instrument of reporters. Partisan sources tended to provide policy frames while non-partisan sources were usually involved with strategy frames. When partisan sources did provide policy frames, they applied the frames to themselves more than two-thirds of the time, focusing on issues and topics involved with the campaigns. In addition, reporter-sourced frames were more likely focus on Republicans than Democrats by a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]