The Role of the Media in the

1998 Bundestag Election in Germany and the

2000 Presidential Election in the United States

The Hague University

HEBO ­ School for European Studies

Course: Media and Politics I

Academic year 2008/2009

Philipp Alvares de Souza Soares

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

1

2. Different frameworks and expectations

1

2.1 The systems behind the two elections

1

2.2 Influence of the systematical differences

2

2.3 "Americanized" or "Professionalized"?

3

3. Differences between the two elections

4

3.1 1998 election of the German Bundestag

4

3.2 2000 US presidential election

6

4. Conclusion

7

Bibliography

9

1

1. Introduction

This essay tries to compare the role of the media in the general election 1998 in Germany

with its role in the presidential election in the United States in 2000. It wants to show to

which extent the coverage was different and which factors might have influenced it.

In the first part the different frameworks behind the two elections that could have an effect

on the media are briefly explained. Additionally two theories of the changing media

coverage style of elections are mentioned and expectations to the actual results are derived.

In the second part the two elections are actually compared giving some basic facts and

special characteristics. Furthermore the media coverage is being compared and some of the

theoretical assumptions are being tested employing statistical data mostly out of a

comparative study by Günther Lengauer (2007). Because of the limited space, the essay

focuses only on the main findings. It ends with a conclusion.

2. Different frameworks and expectations

In order to compare the role of the media in the two elections one has to keep in mind that

the system behind each one differs to a certain extent. I will only focus on the main

characteristics here that distinguish the two systems and might influence the media

coverage. The differences are of course much more complicated if you take a closer look, but

in this context a brief overview should be sufficient.

2.1 The systems behind the two elections

American presidential elections begin with the so called "primaries". During this time people

choose out of several candidates of the different parties. The winner becomes in the end the

official candidate for his or her party. Although there are also candidates from other parties

they normally only play a marginal role ­ basically the democratic and the republican

candidate are a matter of interest.

During the presidential election itself the voters choose indirectly between the winners of

the primaries. It´s an indirect election because people don´t vote for one candidate - they

vote "electors". Once it is determined which candidate received the most votes in one state

the electors of every state vote all for this candidate ­ even if the difference was very close

(BBC, 2007).