Media Research Project Code Sheet
GENERAL GUIDELINES
We are concerned with how well
local TV news programs inform citizens during the election season. As
such, we are monitoring election related stories which focus on races on the
ballot in the
Please be as careful and accurate as possible – this may mean rewinding several times. We want to get the best possible data collected so that our report is as accurate as it can be. If you are ever confused or in doubt about how to code something, make note of it in the “other/not sure” box. Be sure to explain it well enough for us to make a good determination.
“Teasers”, which tell you about
stories which are coming up do not count for our purposes.
Which stories to code:
For the
“election” stories, record data only for stories which explicitly cover
campaigns, candidates, initiatives, or the election. Candidates for re-election
who are shown performing their official duties (rather than campaigning) would
still be in the election category, since the story may influence a person’s
vote. For the “government stories” section, we are
interested in coverage relevant to voters, so focus on stories about ELECTED
officials who are NOT running for office this year in
What counts as a story:
A single “story” follows a specific theme or topic and may have several parts to it. For example, if the newscasters began talking about how the war in Iraq is impacting the presidential race, and then consulted a public opinion pollster and interviewed experts about Iraq and then talked to members of the campaign staffs, it would all still be considered one story – you might entitle it “Iraq and Pres. race” or some such. A story starts with an introduction by the anchor, and generally ends when the anchor introduces a completely new topic (or they may go to an ad break).
Step by step:
1. For each story or ad, fill out
the entire form, and save it. Then move
on to the next story or ad with a fresh form.
2. Fill out the identifying
information first, including the time of the broadcast and channel, etc.
3. Determine if you are coding an
election focused story, one about elected officials who are not running for
office, both, or if there is no story in either category for the entire
newscast, hit the last radio button. If
you are coding an advertisement, hit that radio button.
4. If the story is explicitly
related to the election, check the appropriate classification boxes for which
race(s) is/are the focus. If the story
is not about the election, but about an elected official, fill out the
classification boxes on the right side.
5. The story frame category can be
multiple. If so, please prioritize your listings in the boxes next to the
categories. For example, if the story is mostly about the impact of the
stem cell debate on the race and who it will help or hurt, but then it also
mentions a little bit about which candidates hold which positions on stem
cells, you would enter 1 in the box after “strategy” and 2 in the box after
“issue”. This means that it was mostly a horse-race (campaign strategy) story,
but also had some issue component.
6. For who is interviewed,
“experts” are considered partisan or not according to the official position
they hold – not the content of their comments. So a Professor would be
“non-partisan” and a Democratic Party spokesperson
would be “partisan”
7. For time – use your stopwatch
to time from the anchor introduction until right before the transition to
another story. For advertisements, most
will be 15 or 30, so if you end up with 31 seconds or 14 seconds, go ahead and
pub 30 or 15.
8. Save after each story or
advertisement is entered. Do “save as”
and save into the appropriate folder (according to channel being viewed) on the
shared hard drive. Save using unique
titles for each story or ad. Save using
the following standardized format:
Channel-Time-Date-Initials-Story number. So if you were coding Channel 3 on January 1st at 6:30 and your name was Kimberly Nalder, and it was the first relevant story in that half-hour broadcast, you would code it as: 3630J1KNS1. If it was the first ad in that same broadcast, it would be: 3630J1KNA1. Once you have typed this in once for the first story or ad, you should just have to change the last number for the other stories or ads within that broadcast.
THANK YOU!
Some details on each section if
you need it:
Title Come up with a title for each story – one that sums up the theme of the story
Office(s) or Initiative(s) featured in the story (can be multiple in one story)
Story Frame (can be multiple – put in order of emphasis if so)
1. Horserace/ campaign strategy (who is ahead or behind, what it would take to win, poll results etc.)
2. Ad Watch/ Fact Check – the journalists are assessing the truthfulness of campaign claims or ads.
3. Issue – discussing candidate positions on issues (or impact of initiative)
4. Personal/ scandal/ “character” – stories about candidates’ hairstyle or drunk driving arrest, etc.
5. General election discussion (that would be useful to voters, like where to vote, reminders about the election, etc.)
6. Other (describe)
Length of Story
This may take a rewinding to get right. Use the stopwatch to determine how long the story lasts – from anchor intro to the end of coverage of that topic. Note in minutes and seconds, like 1:35 for one minute and 35 seconds.
Story placement in newscast
1. Before the first commercial break
2. After the first commercial break
Who is/are the source(s) used in the story? (aside from the reporter or anchor) Only use those who are either shown speaking (you hear the words) or referred to explicitly as a source (a report or poll release, for example).
There may be multiple. If there is more than one in each category, put the number of times listed in the box.
1. Candidate or initiative sponsor(s)
2. Staffers or campaign officials
3. non-partisan “experts” (academics, Legislative Analysts Office, pollsters, etc.)
4. Partisan “experts” (Democratic or Republican strategists, partisan think-tank, etc.)
5. Other journalists (a newspaper reporter, a reporter from another TV outlet, etc.)
6. Citizens interviewed (voters, person on the street, etc.)
7. Other officeholders not running for office in CA (President Bush, Senator Boxer, etc.)
8. Activist(s) (protestors or supporters)
9. Other (specify)
10. None
Balance – just in terms of how much time is devoted to each – not the tone of the coverage.
Advertisements
Office or Initiative
1. Democratic Presidential candidate
2. Republican Presidential candidate
3. Initiative
4. Election in general
5. Other (specify)
Length of Ad – most will be 15 or 30 seconds.
Positive or Negative (intended to convince you to vote FOR the person featured (positive) or AGAINST the person featured (negative).