1. Going Beyond the Horse Race in Campaign Coverage: Reporting on Issues that Matter Professor Eric Freedman October 18, 2012 Vytautas Magnus University

2. Points to Consider Is there any election-related news that should not be reported? Do political parties & candidates need journalism in the age of social media & the Internet? When it comes to elections, whom can you— as a journalist and/or as a citizen—believe?

3. Election Day, October 14, 2012, Kaunas

4. Major Categories of Election Stories News stories “Horse race” Issues Personal Analysis & opinion Editorials, opinion columns, editorial cartoons

5. 2008 Seimas Election Party Votes (proporti onal) % Seats proportio nal constitue ncy total Homeland Union – Lithuania n Christian Democrat s 243,82319.72182745 National Resurrecti on Party 186,62915.0913316 Order and Justice 156,77712.6811415 Social Democrat ic Party of Lithuania 144,89011.72101525 Coalition Labour Party + Youth Labour Party Youth 111,1498.998210 Liberal Movemen t 70,8625.735611 Liberal and Centre Union 66,0785.34538 Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania 59,2374.79—33 Lithuania n Peasant Popular Union 46,1623.73—33 New Union (Social Liberals) 45,0613.64—11 Front40,0163.24——— Young Lithuania Young Lithuania (Jaunoji Lietuva) 21,5891.75——— Civic Democrat ic Party 13,7751.11——— Union of the Russians of Lithuania 11,3570.92——— Lithuania n Social Democrat ic Union Lithuania n Social Democrat ic Union (Lietuvos socialdem okratų sąjunga) 10,6420.86——— Lithuania n Centre Party Lithuania n Centre Party (Lietuvos centro partija) 8,6690.70——— Independ ents ———44

6. Explaining Polls Who was polled & how were they selected? Who paid for the poll & who conducted it? What specific questions were asked? When was it conducted? What was the margin of error? Do the results seem in synch with other polls?

7. News Sources for Campaign Coverage Partisan sources Candidates & their campaign aides Political party leaders & activists Interest group representatives Individual supporters & critics Nonpartisan sources Experts Interest group representatives Undecided voters

8. Election Day Coverage Turnout (participation) Results Problems at the polls Comments from winners & losers Comments from experts Comments from ordinary voters Implications, perspectives & what happens next

9. After the Voting, the Election’s Not Over Meaning of the results Next things to happen Winners & losers Election fairness & honesty