Monitoring Reports of Philadelphia Local TV News Broadcasts

Daily monitoring reports of Philadelphia local TV newscasts (NBC10, 6ABC, CBS3, FOX29, CN8) beginning in January and extending through the end of April, approximately 110 days, are available by arrangement with the ASC Library. These rundowns, produced by the local vendor Video Monitoring Services (VMS), present data on the topics of each story covered by each local newscast, including the individuals featured in the stories, the length of their sound bites, and the length of the stories themselves. These monitoring reports allow researchers to carry out comprehensive analyses of local television coverage of the Philadelphia mayoral primary. The data, which the School has acquired for Dr. Phyllis Kaniss' Communication 398 class (Media and the Mayoral Race), enables her students to quantitatively analyze local political coverage in 2007 and compare and contrast it to that of over a decade ago, when she performed similar content analyses for the 1991 Philadelphia mayor's race (The Media and the Mayor’s Race, Indiana University Press, 1995). With this data students are able to trace how political coverage varies by time of day, by station, how different candidates are treated, issues of race, and how political coverage compares to other subjects, such as crime. Are issues covered or just the horse race? How are polls covered? Which campaign is more reactive versus proactive with regard to issues and charges?

The transcripts are being adding daily to the Comm 398 Blackboard site. If you are interested in accessing this material write to me or Dr. Kannis and you will be given access rights to the course.