Larry J. Sabato

Mark Stencel

Robert S. Lichter

The line dividing public life and private behavior in American politics is more blurred than ever. When it comes to questions about sex, substance abuse, and family life, anything goes on the political desk in many newsrooms, including uncorroborated hearsay disguised as news. Peepshow looks behind the scenes at news coverage of political scandals, analyzing what gets reported, what doesn't, and why. The authors talk with top news editors to get a fix on what will make the evening news and what we're likely to read about in the next campaign season.

Media and Politics in an Age of Scandal

Peepshow

Stephen J. Farnsworth

Including late-breaking data from the Iraq occupation and the disastrous CBS News reports on Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard Service, acclaimed media scholars Stephen J. Farnsworth and S. Robert Lichter examine news coverage of military policy, economic policy, and scandals from the last four U.S. presidencies, including the current controversial administration. Using a quarter-century of content analysis data, the authors demonstrate how the White House dominates Capitol Hill on every dimension of news coverage, undermining Congress's attempt to compete as a co-equal branch before the public. At the same time, they show how the networks are steadily losing ground to new media outlets and suggest future paths our media mania may take.

Robert S. Lichter

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