The journalism of opinion: Network news coverage of U.S. presidential campaigns, 1968–1988

This essay expands the research on sound bites in U.S. presidential campaign coverage by looking at the speech of journalists rather than sources. Using the metaphor of the election report as apolitical conversation among journalists and their sources, the authors apply Bales's categories to discover that journalists have become more dominant, increasing their share of air time in more tightly controlled, faster paced reports. A significant shift toward expressing opinions and judgments of campaign events confirms previous qualitative observations that newscasts have become more journalist‐centered. The focus on journalists and their opinions may turn anchors into celebrities and attract larger audiences, but it provides information less often about the election.