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Political advertising is a structural feature of American political campaigns. That has become more prevalent with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission in 2010. The vast majority of that advertising comes in the form of political ads that are shown on local television stations. In fact, in the Presidential election of 2012, local TV stations received over $2.9 billion (80%) of political ad spending. During the final two months of the 2014 mid-term election, the citizens in the Philadelphia television market saw nearly 12,000 political ads that cost their sponsors $14.4 million. Two-thirds of these ads were presented on news programs. The political ads raise questions about public issues that the candidates think will resonate with voters. An obvious question is to what extent do local newscast cover those public issues. This study examined that question in the Philadelphia television market during the 2014 mid-term election.
Research Team:
Allison Becker, MA, Coding Director
Danilo Yanich, PhD, Associate Professor, Project Director
Report: Political Ads and Local TV News_2015.pdf
