1.

3.

Figures are network average. The coverage by all three networks was added together and then divided by three to provide average coverage.

2. Top figures are number of times issue positions were mentioned: bottom figures (in parentheses) are total amount of time given to issue position. "Explicit" references are where the linkage between candidate and issue position is direct (e.g. "McGovern said today he would reduce military spending"); "implicit" references are where the linkage is indirect (e.g. "News from the Paris peace talks indicate a solution to the Vietnam conflict may be near").

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tent on four of these six issue positions. The four unambiguous issuc

messages were:

1. Richard Nixon favors holding down government
spending.

2.

3.

4.

Richard Nixon has done a poor job of handling
inflation.

George McGovern favors spending less money
on the military.

George McGovern favors an immediate withdrawal
of troops from Vietnam.

References to Nixon's intention to hold down government spending usually
came from announcements about his vetoes of congressional appropriations
and his impoundment of appropriated funds. Messages about Nixon's
handling of inflation usually were contained in attacks on Republican
economic policies by the McGovern camp. References to McGovern's po-
sitions on military spending and Vietnam withdrawal came from remarks
by McGovern, his spokesmen, or Nixon spokesmen, and were consistent
regardless of source.

Network news messages on the other two issues were sometimes conflicting, but they will be considered to have indicated the following:

5.

Richard Nixon has done an effective job of
handling the Vietnam war.

6.

Richard Nixon has tolerated political cor-
ruption and favoritism in his administration.

We base our contention that television news indicated that Nixon had
done an effective job of handling Vietnam on two pieces of data.
First, when both explicit and implicit mentions are totaled, the ma-
jority of references and the bulk of the time were favorable to Nixon

*The definitions of explicit mentions and implicit mentions are provided in Table 1.

(see Table 1). Second, the favorable statements overwhelmingly occurred during the week or so immediately prior to our final voter interview, when news from the Paris peace talks was very optimistic. If voters were affected by television news reporting, it is this final barrage of favorable comments that should have been uppermost in their minds.

The television news message about Nixon's stand on political corruption was also somewhat ambiguous. However, our decision to treat the news message as unfavorable to Nixon is based on the fact that the preponderance of messages were negative and, even more so, on the fact that more news time was given to negative than to positive statements. Further, while the negative comments were often buttressed by investigative reports from the washington Post, the favorable messages were typically unsupported denials by Administration spokesmen.

As an aside, disregarding momentarily the effects of level of exposure to television news), our interpretation of these last two issues is consistent with the interpretation made by the majority of voters. Over the period of the general election, voters tended to have increasingly favorable views of Nixon's Vietnam handling, and tended to increasingly believe that he had tolerated political corruption and favoritism.

Televised political advertising gave both clearer and more exten7 sive coverage to the candidates' issue stands (see Table 2). The Nixon and McGovern ad campaigns included nine issue positions that were clearly stated and that were awarded at least 10 mentions or at 8 least five minutes of time.

Table 2.

Issue Position References in Nixon and McGovern Televised
Political Spots

(Sept. 18 - Nov.6, 1972, 7-11 p.m.)

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The Nixon ad campaign most frequently communicated four is sue stands:

1.

Richard Nixon favors honoring our committments
to other nations.

There were four issue stands heavily covered by the McGovern ad campaign:

5. George McGovern favors an immediate with-
drawal from Vietnam.

George McGovern favors higher taxes on upper
income Americans.

Richard Nixon has tolerated political cor-
ruption and favoritism in his administration.

Richard Nixon has done a poor job of hand-
ling inflation.

And, there was one issue stand given heavy coverage by both the Nixon 9 and McGovern campaigns:

9.

George McGovern favors spending less money
on the military.

The issue beliefs for these nine televised advertising messages, and the six previously discussed television news messages will be the ones we most closely examine for media effects. Three other issue positions will be included only for comparison purposes.

Additionally, the issue stands covered heavily by television

news will be considered to be those covered heavily by the newspapers.