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Abstract
Overall, as in 2001 and 2004, the print media provided substantial coverage of the election campaign; and, as in recent campaigns, the Prime Minister received greater coverage than the Opposition Leader. As in previous campaign coverage a small number of topics—including opinion polling—generated the majority of stories. Two features were different in the 2007 campaign, namely the gradual increase in the number of positive stories about the Opposition Leader; and an increase in the number of negative stories about and unflattering images of the Prime Minister.
Acknowledgements
This article was partially supported by funding from the University of Otago; and was written while a Visting Fellow in the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University.
Notes
1. Rare exceptions in Australia are Sir Robert Menzies and Gough Whitlam; See James Walter, ‘The “life myth”, “short lives” and dealing with live subjects in political biography’, in Tracey Arkley, John Nethercote and John Wanna (eds), Australian Political Lives, ANU E-Press, Canberra, 2006.
2. Strict equality of space between the Government and the Opposition was the Sydney Morning Herald's policy until the early 1990s. See D W Rawson (ed.), Australia Votes: The 1958 Australian Election, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1961.
3. See Marian Simms and Daniel Bolger, ‘The Australian print media and partisan bias in the campaign’ in Marian Simms and John Warhurst (eds), The Howard Agenda: The 1998 Australian Election, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 2000, p 34.
4. See Jack R Herman et al., ‘Analysis of the coverage of the 2006 Queensland Election by the Courier Mail’, in Jack R Herman (ed.), State of the News Print Media in Australia 2007—A Supplement to the 2006 Report, Australian Press Council, 2006, pp 2–3, http://www.presscouncil.org.au/snpma/snpma2007/ch06_2_snpma2007.html, accessed 12 November 2007.
5. Unfortunately, due to a change in methodology in 2006, where circulation data are to be based on sales data and exclude ‘give aways’, direct comparisons with the more broadly based 2004 figures are not available. See Herman, op. cit., p 1.
6. See Michael Bodey, ‘News flagship gains the most readers’, Australian, 16 February 2007; Matthew Ricketson, ‘Online readership surges as more people read about it’, Age, 18 August 2006.
7. Marian Simms, ‘The print media: lap dog or watchdog’ in Marian Simms and John Warhurst (eds), Mortgage Nation: The 2004 Australian Election, API Network, Perth, 2005, pp 71–82; Marian Simms, ‘The media and the 2001 election: Afghans, asylum seekers and anthrax’ in John Warhurst and Marian Simms (eds), 2001: The Centenary Election, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 2007, chapter 7.
8. The measure of bias is taken from R J Dalton et al., ‘Partisan cues and the print media’, American Political Science Review, vol 92, no 1, 1998, pp 111–26, and is based on an assessment of how the particular political team would react to the item. I have used a three-point scale of positive, negative and neutral.
9. Financial Review, 20 October 2007.
10. Herald-Sun, 20 October 2007.
11. Australian Financial Review, 15 October 2007.
12. Australian, 24 October 2007.
13. ‘Election lift-out’, Sydney Morning Herald, 15 October 2007.
14. Australian, 2 November 2007.
15. Australian,15 October 2007; see also the Australian 15 October, 17 October, 19 October, 23 October, 29 October, 30 October, 3 November, 12 November, 17 November, 19 November, 20 November, 22 November and 23 November 2007.
16. Australian, 31 October 2007.
17. Sydney Morning Herald, 9 November 2007.
18. Australian, 3 November 2007.
19. Australian, 8 November 2007.
20. Sydney Morning Herald, 8 November 2007.
21. Sydney Morning Herald, 23 November 2007.
22. In 1998, the Herald-Sun equivocated and listed the strengths of both sides. In 2007, it supported the Coalition.