The president and congress as sources in television news coverage of the national debt

A content analysis of the Vanderbilt Television News Abstracts of stories dealing with the national debt between January 1990 and December 1993 advances our understanding of media coverage of political issues. By focusing on a single issue it permits analyzing coverage over a longer period than earlier study. This permits deeper analysis of the differences in coverage accorded to the House and the Senate. The findings confirm the general consensus that the media focus overwhelmingly on the President, but shows that on the issue of national debt the House received more coverage than the Senate.