Over the Wire and on TV: CBS and UPI in Campaign ‘80

There are several things which this book is not. It is not a voter study. It is not a book about new people nor an investigation of the history, background or behaviour of the White House press corps. It does not pin-point the press winners and losers in the campaign of 1980 and, finally, it is not about the effect of broadcast technology on campaign strategy - or, at least, only tangentially. The authors have used the traditional standards of journalism - objectivity, fairness, seriousness and comprehensiveness - and have tried to measure how well network news (CBS) and the national wire (UPI) performed in covering the 1980 presidential campaign. Second they have attempted to show, qualitatively and quantitatively, how traditional print and contemporary network journalism compared and contrasted. Finally, they used their findings to speculate about politics under a new system of reporting and have tried to sort out the broader implications of moving from newspapers to networks as the principle medium for following elections and campaigns.