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As in 1968, coverage by dailies was very uniform. Most striking feature was reduced emphasis on personality characteristics of candidates, and increased emphasis on professional qualifications.

Examination of the personal & professional qualities of presidential candidates & the political issues which were discussed in the US press & on national TV newscasts during the 1968 & 1972 presidential campaigns. The various aspects of the information supply patterns in the 2 elections are described & compared, noting differences attributable to the passage of time & to the fact that the 1972 election involved an incumbent. The basic pattern differences & respective adequacy of election information supply in newspapers & TV broadcasts are also assessed. The newspaper data come from a content analysis of a sample of 20 newspapers in which campaign coverage was analyzed for the last 30 days of the 1968 & 1972 US presidential campaigns. The papers were selected to capture coverage characteristics which might ensue from regional differences, variations in community size, partisan factors, or extent of control over a market area. The TV data come from a content analysis of videotapes of the early evening national news presented by ABC, CBS, & NBC. The content analysis yielded 7,989 press stories & 1,448 TV stories. Primary coding emphasis was on political issues stressed in campaigning & on the personal characteristics & professional qualifications claimed or disclaimed for the candidates. Sources of stories were noted, including the paper or newscast where the story appeared, the persons whose statements were reported, their political leanings, & the identity of the reporter. Coders also noted the candidates who were favored or discussed or quoted by a story, the nature of the audience to which the story was addressed, & the reactions of the audience. Evidence of explicit or implicit editorializing in noneditorial materials was also coded. Intracoder & intercoder reliability averaged 85% & 82% respectively for all substantive categories. The analysis revealed great similarities in coverage patterns among newspapers as well as among network broadcasts, regardless of the characteristics & settings of particular papers or networks. A pattern of heavy stress on personality characteristics & daily campaign events prevailed in all sources. Professional qualifications & political philosophies of the candidates were slighted, as were social & economic issues. The hypothesis that incumbency of one candidate would lead to substantially greater emphasis on public policy issues & on professional qualifications was not confirmed. 8 Tables. Modified AA.