Conclusion

After analyzing the media coverage of the MN governor election, I have come to realize how much the media controls how voters perceive the candidates and the election. According the academic journal "Comparing Gubernatorial and Senatorial Elections," voters learn about candidates from news media and newspapers are the main source of news about state politics.

While some articles toward the end of the election were rather short, most of the articles were about the same length with 18 - 23 paragraphs. Although the coverage of each of the candidates was pretty fair, Democratic candidate Mark Dayton and Republican candidate Mark Emmer got slightly more daily coverage than Independent candidate Tom Hormer. Towards the end of the election, since Dayton was ahead in the election, he took the majority of the candidate coverage. But, towards the end of the election the coverage was less focused on specific candidates and was more focused on reporting survey results. 

I realized that most of the coverage focused on which Democrats and Republicans were supporting each candidate and how much money each candidate had spend on their campaigns. This falls under campaign strategy coverage and filled the majority of the news. 

Surprisingly, there was very minimal coverage on issues and candidates views on issues. The only time we really saw anything about issues was after a debate. The Star Tribune did a wonderful job reporting on the debates, but more attention should be paid to issues throughout the entire campaigns not just after a debate.

I also noticed as the election got closer we had to dig further into the paper to find anything about the election. I would think this would have been opposite. A month before the election the articles about the governor election were on the front cover at least 3 times a week and the closer to the election the further into the paper the articles disappeared.

I think the Star Tribune could improve their coverage of the next election by 1) reporting more on issues 2) giving equal coverage to all candidates throughout the entire campaign 3) publish the articles in a consistent spot in the paper so it's easier for voters to find them.

On the Run

A very brief article posted online this morning quickly stated what each candidate planned to do for the last couple days leading up to the election.

Democrat Mark Dayton hopped a plane for a flyaround to Duluth, Hibbing, Moorhead, Worthington and Rochester. He'll close out at a rally in St. Paul.

Republican nominee Tom Emmer is tooling around in his RV on a 19-city tour, including eight stops with departing Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

The Independence Party's Tom Horner split his team into three buses for events in all corners of the state. They'll converge for a Midway Stadium rally in St. Paul on Monday night.

 This article may be unnecessary but it does do two things. It informs people where the candidates plan to be in the next couple days and it shows that the candidates are doing anything and everything to get the most votes.


View complete article here.

Appealing to Undecideds

As the race for MN governor comes to an end, candidates are trying to win as many extra votes as possible. An article posted online at StarTribune.com this Sunday night reviewed the last debate between the candidates that took place earlier Sunday. The article briefly covered the debate stating that the "candidates [seemed] more determined to drive home their major themes than attack each other." During the debate, there was time for a few people from the audience to ask questions. The article included two of those questions and the answers from each candidate.

One man asked how the prospective governors would avoid partisan politics when legislative and congressional districts are redrawn next year. Horner and Dayton said they favor leaving redistricting decisions to an independent commission or judicial panel.

Emmer said: "If I'm in the governor's office, it will be fair, absolutely."

When a member of the audience asked how the candidates felt about the new federal health care overhaul, Emmer said it gave too much power to the federal government. "I think it's a mistake," he said. "I don't think it's got a future."

Dayton defended the overhaul, saying it has been the target of "a lot of fear-mongering."
Horner said, "There are challenges, problems, weaknesses in the federal health-care reform." But he said Minnesota should be "bold and innovative" to get the most out of it.

In the last few days before the election, this article seemed to leave a positive light on each candidate and showed what makes each candidate stand out from one another.

"I will makes taxes fair and will invest that money on education," Dayton said.

Emmer distinguished himself from both Dayton and Horner, who has proposed lowering but broadening the state sales tax. "I'm the only candidate that will not raise taxes on middle class Minnesotans, or any other Minnesotans," Emmer said.

Horner, who has been slumping in recent polls, sought to dispel the notion that a vote for him would only help one of the other two candidates. "A vote for Tom Horner is a vote for Tom Horner," he said.

View the complete article here. 

Near the end, only numbers matter

An article posted online at Startribune.com on Sunday night reported on a debate between the three candidates. The article titled "Tough talk from candidates adds bite to latest gubernatorial debate" seemed to focus on Horner's attacks at opposing candidates, Emmer and Dayton. Whether or not the attacks are actually accurate, Horner got some major attention from them. 


View complete article here. 

As the election comes closer and closer, the candidates are doing everything but wrapping things up. As my professor discussed in class, the last week of the election is the most crucial. Candidates and their campaign managers are working to secure as many votes as possible. As for the news coverage, horse race coverage and last debates are the focus. 


An article posted earlier Sunday morning focused on horse race coverage with the report of the latest poll results. The online article was fairly lengthy for a report on poll results and included several graphic images to help display and convey the results of the poll. 

Months of negative ads appear to have taken a toll on all three candidates, with their unfavorable ratings ticking up as the assaults mount.

According to the poll, the number of voters who view Emmer and Horner unfavorably now exceeds the number who view them favorably.

About 48 percent of Minnesotans view Dayton favorably, compared to 41 percent for Emmer and 32 percent for Horner.

Besides reporting the results, the article included several quotes from voters. The quotes may be persuasive for those who are still undecided and may possibly help a candidate receive more (or less) votes. 

"I just think he has a really good feel for what Minnesotans need and want, and he will work for us," Annette Contos, of Fergus Falls, said of Dayton.

The 72-year-old Democrat said she likes Dayton's "tax the rich" message. "I think we all have to bite the bullet and pay more taxes," she said.

For not having much new information about the election, this article had a considerably large amount of comments online with over 500. The comments appear to show hopes for a better candidate or different poll results.   


View complete article here.

Getting to know Dayton

An article in today's paper titled, "Dayton was born to run" is rather lengthy and therefore is split into different sections. The article falls under the category of personality trait coverage. The writer begins by describing the art in Dayton's town house. The second section is titled "Growing Up as a Dayton." The writer goes on to describe Dayton's earlier years.

High expectations were branded on Dayton early by his father, Bruce Dayton, the demanding patriarch of one of Minnesota's wealthiest families.

The elder Dayton once told a friend that he wasn't surprised to be at the helm of Dayton-Hudson in 1979 when it became a billion-dollar company. Family lore says his rejoinder was: "I'd always dreamed I'd run a $10 billion company."

To be the eldest of four children -- two boys and two girls -- was to feel the brunt of his father's lofty aspirations.

Mark Dayton slumps in his chair, gazing up as he did when his parents sat him down to speak to him about bringing home only second honors from the fifth grade.

"I was told in no uncertain terms that I would never come home with second honors again. ... I was given an 'F' and an 'F' for effort," he says with a laugh. "I got first honors every semester for the rest of the time."

He was an All-State goalie as a senior at the Blake School who went on to play for Yale until an accident on the ice slit his throat. Asked why he became a goalie and he says "Because I couldn't skate well enough to do anything else."

So he worked harder at it. 

The article has some great quotes from Dayton, especially being that it is an article on personality trait coverage. This is a great time to do an article on Dayton, as election day is almost here and Dayton is pretty far ahead in the race.

The article portrays Dayton as just another guy, which makes it easier for voters to relate to him. The article discusses his struggles as a child and throughout college and problems with drinking. This article doesn't hold anything back and whether or not that is a good thing is up to the reader's opinions.

After showing the funny side of Dayton with a few quotes, the article ends with a quote from a friend of Dayton's.

"He is really a wonderful human being. ... He has done so much that he never takes credit for."

Another Poll

News coverage on the race for MN governor has become less and less as we get closer to the election day. Most of the coverage has consisted of reports on advertisements or poll results. Today's article reported on a new poll done by SurveyUSA. The results of the survey were very similar and consistent with past surveys. The results show that Dayton is in the lead with the support of 42 percent of likely voters. Emmer isn't far behind with 37 percent.

This article once again falls under horse race coverage, which seems to be the focus as the race raps up. Since the article is just a report on the survey results, it is fairly short with only five paragraphs. The article shows the percentages for each of the three candidates and doesn't appear to favor any one over the other.

News Coverage of Ads

According to Stephen J. Wayne: “there are basically three types of political commercials: those that praise candidates and their accomplishments (positive ads), those that contrast candidates to the obvious advantage of the ad’s sponsor (contrast ads), and those that just criticize candidates on the grounds of their policy preferences or personal behavior (negative ads).”

Later in the text, Wayne discusses how good advertisements sometimes become or create news. “The most effective ads are those that reinforce or become news.” Although the ad discussed below may not become big news, it is in the news. Wayne also discusses how news coverage of ads pretty much gives candidates free advertising time.

Buried within today’s paper, an article titled, “Group’s ad attacks Dayton tax plan,” focused on a television ad that falls under the category of negative ads.

‘Dayton will raise job killing taxes by $5 billion,’ an announcer says, as the ad shows faces of sad children. ‘That’s more than $2,300 in new taxes per Minnesota family.’

The article goes on to describe Dayton’s reaction of the ad. He says the ad is misleading and creates a false impression. Not only is the ad giving a negative view towards Dayton's campaign, but by covering the ad in the newspaper the article is bringing attention to the negative aspects of Dayton's campaign. By covering ads in the news, candidates get double advertisement whether negative or positive. 

Two Shorts Articles

Buried within the paper today is an article titled "Complaint Alleges Campaign Violations." The writers at Star Tribune must have realized this article wasn't very significant to the public. The article has only had 6 comments online since it was posted last night. The article covers the details of a complaint about campaign finance violations. With only two direct quotes, the article is quite short.

Click here to view complete article.

On the other hand, a very short article published yesterday has gained lots of attention with over 1000 comments. Why? Because the article published yesterday falls into the category of horse race coverage. The article titled "Poll: Dayton with wide lead over Emmer" very briefly reports the results of a Minnesota Poll about the governor's race.

Just a month ago, the two candidates were even at 34 percent. But, the latest survey shows Dayton with 38 percent of 750 likely Minnesota voters and Emmer with 27 percent.

Independence Party candidate Tom Horner garnered 16 percent of likely voters in the survey conducted Wednesday through Sunday. The poll also shows more than one in five Republicans, or 22 percent, plan to vote for Horner instead of Emmer.

The article has zero quotes and is less than ten paragraphs, but the information is very important to voters who are interested in the "game."

Click here to view complete article

Publish Post

More Horserace Coverage

The horserace coverage continues with today's article titled "Voters opt for taxing top earners." The Article highlighted another Minnesota Poll on the governor's race. The article once again shows how DFL candidate Mark Dayton will most likely have the majority of the vote.

"DFL governor candidate Mark Dayton's proposal to reduce the state's deficit by taxing the wealthy has wide support among likely voters this fall- far ahead of the two other candidates' budget plans, according to a Star Tribune Minnesota Poll."

The issue of the state deficit is on the top of many voters lists of concerns for the next governor. This article about the poll results showing support of each candidate's proposals to reduce the state's deficit is very critical to the election.

Voters will definitely see the article with the poll results on the front page of the Star Tribune today. It has already caught a lot of attention online, with over 500 comments already posted on the article.

Click here to view complete article.

Horserace Coverage

According to Ridout and smith, horserace coverage informs voters "which candidate is gaining ground and which candidate is losing."

With only five weeks left until the election, the Star Tribune figured it was time to do that. An article in Sunday's paper informed readers which candidate is ahead in the race for Minnesota governor.

"DFL candidate Mark Dayton leads GOP rival Tom Emmer among likely voters, with Independence Party candidate gaining ground, a Star Tribune Minnesota Poll has found. In the three-way race, Dayton leads Emmer 39 to 30 percent, nearly unchanged from a July Minnesota Poll. Horner is at 18 percent, up from 13 percent in July."

The article ended with great quotes from three voters with very different views.

"Brad Greenway, 40, said Dayton relates to the concerns of average Minnesotans.

'I think he has a better handle on what regular Minnesotans are going through right now,' said Greenway, who is unemployed and lives in Beltrami County south of Bemidji. 'Emmer seems much more out of touch, especially with the problems we have up here. He and Horner just don't connect.'

But St. Paul real estate agent Don Peterson said emmer is the one looking out for Minnesotans.

'I'm pretty much a Tea Party conservative and we've got to cut both spending and taxes,' said Peterson, 58. 'Emmer's the most business friendly of the three, and I'm looking for the most conservative candidate on the ballot.'

Elizabeth Hustad, 18, a University of Minnesota student who lives in Minneapolis, backs Horner for taking a middle road.

'I'm conservative, but I don't like how far Emmer's going, and he seems a little too concerned with social issues instead of focusing on our economic problems,' she said."

Click to view complete article.

Social Issues vs. Economic Issues

According to Kahn's academic journal, "social issues and social programs receive more attention in gubernatorial campaigns...receiving twice as much coverage in races for governor and than in races for senator. These differencces are likely to influence the issue priorities of voters."

In a recent article, Emmer was quoted saying, "This election is not about [social] issues." Although the candidates for governor seem to be avoiding discussion of social issues, advocacy groups are letting voters know their positions on such issues.

"Among voters who see social issues as a top voting priority, candidates will have trouble hiding their views.

Leaders of social issue groups say they can reach tens of thousands of members through mailers, online resources, and other methods."

According to Squire and Fastnow's academic journal "Gubernatorial and Senatorial Elections," voters hold governors more responsible for the performance of the state economy. This explains why the candidates for governor, as well as most voters, are more concerned with the economy, especially in it's poor state.

"Still, [social] issues have been mostly dormant during the campaign as voters focus on the economy, job losses and a projected $6 billion state budget deficit over the next two years. Bill Morris, a pollster and former chair of the Minnesota Republican Party, said he estimates that fewer than 10 percent of voters will cast a ballot based on a social issue this fall--about half what it has been in past races. 'Right now it's being totally dominated by the state economy,' Morris said."

Click here to view complete article.

Correct Placement and Catchy Headlines Capture Attention

After reading the article in today’s paper, I was a bit confused. The article was titled “Casino, tax hike in Dayton’s new plan,” but had very little information about a casino. Apparently, the headline was just to capture the reader’s attention. Although slightly misleading, the headline was very successful because I, like many others, read the entire article thinking there would be more information about the casino.

The placement (left column of the front page) and headline of the article were both used to draw in more readers. The article was fairly long and continued onto A7 with more information about Dayton’s new plan to close the budget deficit.

“He acknowledged that his new plan − ­which counts on $300 million from a new Mall of America casino and $2.8 billion in new tax collections − comes up nearly $1 billion short.”

With the article, there was also a facts box containing “Highlights of new state revenue he’s proposing” and “Highlights of the cuts he proposed.” The article was put together well and allowed the reader to get the information quickly from the facts box or to get the more detailed version in the article itself. 

(Click here for the complete article)

Governor's Race Gets New Home in Star Tribune

In Kahn's academic journal she dicusses how significant issue coverage is in governor elections. "While issues receive the bulk of campaign coverage in both Senate and gubernatorial campaigns, the absolute amount of issue coverage is substantially greater in races for governor."

For the past few days, the Star Tribune has focused on such coverage in the governor’s race, which has found a new home, not on the cover, but in the twin cities plus region section of the paper.

Thursday’s paper contained two articles about the MN governor’s election. The first article titled “Candidates talk state’s finances” on the front page of the twin cities plus region section was concerning a debate between the three candidates that took place on Wednesday night. The article covered all important areas of the debate including questions addressing candidates’ vulnerabilities and questions and answers about the economy and budget plans.

The article included plenty of direct quotes from the candidates during the debate and ended with a quote from State Economist Tom Stinson, who got to ask a question in the debate.

“I just want to see somebody who demonstrates that they understand how severe the problem is and are prepared to make some honest decisions about fixing it.”

(Click for the complete article)

* * * 

The other article in Thurday’s paper was title “Emmer calls for broad changes in education system” and was found deeper into the paper. The article was rather short with little quotes. It focused on Emmer’s plan to reevaluate teachers based on their students’ success.

“Emmer, in an address at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, said teachers should be evaluated based on their students’ progress and paid accordingly. ‘Rewards should be real tangible and, yes, unequal,’ he told the audience of about 60 people who attended the candidate forum.”

The importance of articles and information was definitely evident with the placement in Thursday’s paper.

(Click for the complete article)

* * *

Today, the Independence Party candidate Tom Horner was the focus of the Governor’s Race article. The fairly lengthy article seems a bit confused, which makes Horner seem a bit confused.

After listing several areas where he plans to spend millions and where he plans to cut tax, the article ends with a quote from the candidate himself: “Exactly how we get to the specific components, I don’t know.”

The organizing and placement of an article within the paper reflect the views of the writer, whether it be subtle or obvious, the articles are not one hundred percent unbiased.

(Click for the complete article)

Front and Center Horserace Coverage

Today, the candidates for Minnesota governor, specifically Mark Dayton, got an article front and center in the Star Tribune. The article titled "Interest Groups Spending Big" filled the center column on the front page of the Star Tribune on September 14, 2010. The article included one large photograph of Louisana Gov. Bobby Jindal and two smaller photographs of Mark Dayton and Former Republican Gov. Arne Carlson. With the continued article on A4, there was a graphic illustrating media spending for the governor's race.

According to Kim Kahn's Characteristics of Press Coverage in Senate and Gubernatorial Elections: Information Available to Voters: "The substance of political campaigns can be divided into three categories: issue coverage, horserace coverage, and coverage of personality traits. Each of these three topics is potentially important for voters as they develop overall evaluations of candidates for governor and senator." This article falls under horse race coverage because it's main focus is how much money has been spent promoting each campaign.


The beginning of the article revealed that interest groups including: Alliance for a Better Minnesota, Minnesota's Future, and MN Forward have become the most powerful players in political ads.

"The Alliance for a Better Minnesota, a liberal coalition, has saturated the airwaves with more than $1 million in post-primary ads that go after GOP candidate Tom Emmer. Business-backed Minnesota Future and MN Forward have each spent more than $300,000 on ads that either promote Emmer or take off on his DFL opponent, Mark Dayton. That's nearly $1.8 million in the last month.

By comparison, ad buys by the candidates have been relatively paltry -- just $430,000 among Emmer, Dayton and Independence Party candidate Tom Horner in the Twin Cities market."

The rest of the article focused mainly on campaign funding and very little on policies.

But voters want to know who is ahead in the race, and horse race articles like this allows the readers to follow the election standings. Kahn says there is an average of 67 paragraphs of horserace coverage during gubernatorial campaigns. This article alone has 23 paragraphs of horserace coverage.


For more coverage on the 2010 Governor's Election, visit http://www.startribune.com
or click here for the full article.

"Top Dems Ready To Stump For Dayton"

After a few articles focusing on Republican candidate Tom Emmer, I was starting to wonder if the Star Tribune was only interested in sharing one side of the story. But, the Governor's Race article on Wednesday, "Top Dems Ready to Stump for Dayton," was dedicated to the democratic candidate Mark Dayton. Rather than focusing on policies, the article focused on Dayton's campaign strategy. A key factor in his campaign strategy right now is getting support from important well-known democrats including Vice President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton, and President Barack Obama, who all plan to visit MN in the coming weeks.

"'I think the three of them spaced out over the next few weeks will really help ignite excitement for this race among activists,' Dayton said." (Star Tribune, Sept. 8, 2010)

Although Democrats hope these visits will strengthen their campaign, Republicans think Democrats will lose votes because of President Obama's low approval rating right now.

For more information read the full article:

http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/102433799.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU