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This book offers the most in-depth analysis of journalistic attention to the Supreme Court (primarily television) currently available. It combines penetrating and remarkably frank interviews with prominent Supreme Court journalists with extensive examination of videotapes of network television news coverage of the Court, to provide a comprehensive picture of how numerous constraints faced by reporters covering the Court (imposed by the nature of the television news industry and the Court itself) contribute to the pattern of infrequent, brief, and in too many instances, incorrect and misleading stories that are aired about the Court. The implications of this situation for the American public are explored.
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Television News and the Supreme Court All the News That's Fit to Air? Beginning with the recognition that the Supreme Court is the most invisible branch of American government and the one that most Americans know the least about, this book examines the way in which television news, the primary source of the public's limited knowledge, covers the Supreme Court. The book relies on rich interviews with network news reporters who have covered the Court, coupled with actual videotapes of network newscast coverage, to develop a unique portrait of the constraints faced by reporters covering the institution as well as a thorough picture of the facets of the Court's work that are factually covered by television news. The analysis demonstrates convincingly that there are characteristics of the television news industry (such as its heavy reliance on dramatic stories and visuals) that, combined with the rules and habits of the Supreme Court (such as its refusal to allow cameras in the Court as well as its propensity to announce several critical rulings on the same day), make network news coverage of the Court infrequent, brief, and in too many instances, simply plain wrong. The book explores the implications of this situation for the public. Elliot E. Slotnick is Associate Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Professor of Political Science at The Ohio State University. He is the editor of Judicial Politics and has published widely in such journals as the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, the Yale Law and Policy Review, and Judicature. Jennifer A. Segal is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Kentucky. Her research interests include the influence of US. Supreme Court decisions on public attitudes about the Court, the media's influence on public knowledge about the Court, and gender and racial representation from the federal bench. Her work has been published in Judicature. Television News and the Supreme Court All the News That's Fit to Air? ELLIOT E. SLOTNICK JENNIFER A. SEGAL CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www. Cambridge. org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521572644 © Elliot E. Slotnick and Jennifer A. Segal 1998 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1998 A catalogue recordfor this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Slotnick, Elliot E. Television news and the Supreme Court: all the news that's fit to air? / Elliot E. Slotnick, Jennifer A. Segal. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-521-57264-9 hardback - 0-521-57616-4 paperback 1. United States. Supreme Co