5.31 동시지방선거 방송보도 분석: 중앙방송과 지방방송 비교

Abstract

The study examined the differences between network and local television coverage on 2006 local election in Korea, as well as the coverage change from before and after the election, based on its themes, images, and types. The results indicated that, in general, the television news coverage on 5.31 election did not improve in their contents, compared to the previous election coverages. More specifically, local television tended to be more strategic than the network coverage. That is, even though local coverage did a good job in focusing more on candidates, mostly it tended to emphasis on a particular candidate’s campaign strategy or on illegal campaign activities, which the previous research has criticized. Consequently the kinds of negative coverage make voters cynical and indifferent towards politics and vote. In terms of issue coverage, there was no difference between network and local TV. Most of issue coverage include policyoriented rather than political and individual issues. This is partly why during the local election, "manifesto" campaign was popular among the candidates, which then the media reflected the phenomena. Nevertheless, the amount of issue coverage was relatively small. Finally, regarding the visual images of television news, the local televisions were more likely to use the "reference" shots, while the network coverage included more "on-location" ones. The reasons of this difference were partly due to “bad” and limited situation of men power and inancial support from the local television stations.