You get what you pay for: local print media coverage of the 1998 Australian federal election *.

• Jurisdiction: Australia
• Author: Muir, Josephine
• Date: 01 January 1999

Journalist A: I get really angry when candidates pressure journalists to run with their press releases when they are unwilling to pay for advertising space. Candidates should pay for more advertising space. It's not fair that candidates think they can ring a journalist or editor and ask them to do a favor for them by running a press release when candidates don't fulfil their end of the bargain by paying for advertising space.

1. Introduction

   The local print media has long been dismissed as a poor, distant relative of the elite press. In Australia, there are around 450 local community newspapers -- free or paid, weekly or fortnightly English language publications targeted to specific geographic areas. (1) Despite their status in the media food-chain and the virtual absence of empirical studies evaluating their electoral impact on voters, local community newspapers remain pivotal to campaign strategies in local, state and federal elections.

   Campaign manuals recommend a media strategy that combines paid political advertising with earned media. (2) Paid media refers to political advertising bought by or on behalf of political parties. Purchasing advertising space allows candidates to retain control over the timing, content and presentation of tailored political messages. A US based consultancy claims that 70% of a modern day campaign budget is spent on paid advertising via television, radio and newspapers. (3) Comparatively, newspaper advertising is the least persuasive of the media commonly used for political campaigning because of its passivity as a communication medium and its self-selected readership. (4) In addition to these drawbacks, free circulated community newspapers are less attractive to many advertisers because of the difficulties in accurately measuring readership levels and identifying audience profiles -- resulting in uncertainty as to whether or not paid messages are hitting their mark. (5) To overcome these shortcomings, media consultants seek to maximize the impact of paid advertising space by considering page placement (where the advert appears on the page), location (where the advert appears in the newspaper), proximity to relevant or favorable news articles, visual design effects and frequency of appearance.

   Earned (or non-paid) media refers to coverage of news, issues and events deemed by a media organization to be `newsworthy' or in the public interest. For local community newspapers, earned media refers to news articles, editorial columns and published letters to the editor. While candidates have less control over the outcome, earned media is less costly (save the incidental expenses for media releases and press conferences) and more credible. Thus,

   ... the foremost benefit of news coverage over paid advertisements is that the message is deemed more creditable [sic]. Voters believe that because the message is coming from a neutral observer, it must be true -- or at least it is more believable than the commercials sponsored by candidates. (6) While political candidates can impress upon journalists and editors to have their issues and `spin' taken up, the decision to `run with a story' remains with the editor. In Australia, principles of fair reporting require media organizations to disclose any commercial or other interest that might be construed as influencing the presentation of news or opinion. (7) In the absence of any such disclosure, readers reasonably assume that news articles and editorial columns are written objectively, and the selection of letters to the editor to be published is undertaken impartially.

   Campaign literature describes the relationship between paid and earned media as complementary. (8) The combination of paid and earned media in any given campaign is typically contingent upon available finances, along with a candidate's media relations and overall campaign strategy. However, a study of campaign coverage by local community newspapers in a marginal electorate during the 1998 Australian federal election indicated that the relationship between paid and earned media is beyond complementary, and in some instances conditional. Cashed-up candidates attract more earned (non-paid) media exposure relative to their opponents -- further confirmation that the candidate with the biggest budget wins.

   This paper speculates that spin-offs to paid political advertising in local community newspapers manifest in favorable coverage within editorial columns, published letters to the editor and/or news articles. On the face of it, editorial columns and letters to the editor appear more penetrable as tools for canvassing political opinion and thus more vulnerable to influence.

   However, the case study demonstrates that political candidates were able to influence the presentation and `spin' of news articles -- a finding at odds with expectations of fair and independent journalism.

2. Research Design, Data and Methodology

   To investigate the relationship between paid and earned media, campaign coverage by community newspapers was monitored in the electoral division of McEwen during the 1998 federal election. The electorate of McEwen, named after former Prime Minister Sir John McEwen, was selected as the case study from 148 Commonwealth electorates. Located in north-east Victoria, the electorate is classified by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) as a rural electorate, spanning 14,328 square kilometers from Melbourne's urban fringe into rural countryside. The main townships include Alexandra, Broadford, Craigieburn, Diamond Creek, Eildon, Healesville, Hurstbridge, Kilmore, Mansfield, Seymour, Warburton, Whilttlesea and Yarra Junction. It is a diverse electorate, due to its urban and rural aspects -- aptly described as having a "split personality". (9) At the time of the 1998 federal election, 81,651 residents were registered to vote from a total population of 122,163. The winning margin at the 1998 election based on a two party preferred vote was 51.04%.

   There are three reasons why the electorate of McEwen was considered an appropriate case study. Firstly, it was (and remains) a marginal electorate. Prior to the 1998 federal election, it was ranked as the Coalition government's fourth most marginal seat in Victoria. Secondly, the electorate's political status is indeterminate, swinging like a pendulum between the major political parties since its proclamation in 1984. The electorate has `changed hands' four times in six federal elections, typified by the intense competition between the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party of Australia.

   Journalist Tony Parkinson says of the electorate, "few are more difficult to contest, and none have proved harder to hold." (10) Thirdly, the electorate was widely considered by political parties and commentators to be the nation's `litmus test', reflecting the overall mood and volatility of voters. Marginality, wavering partisanship and volatility were prerequisites in choosing an electorate on the basis that paid and earned media are likely to be more relevant to the electoral outcome in a competitive race than in a safe seat where their impact may be superfluous.

   The electorate of McEwen has over two dozen weekly, fortnightly and monthly newspapers that wholly or partly target residents within its boundaries. The majority are independently owned, with the Leader Newspaper Group (owned by News Limited) the biggest publisher with five titles. The circulation of individual newspapers in the electorate varies, depending on the nature and size of the population within its distribution area. The newspapers serving the most populous urban centers circulate in excess of 44,000 copies per week while the smaller rural newspapers average 3,500 copies per week. In addition to these newspapers, many micro newspapers (akin to community newsletters) circulate up to 1,000 copies per month, but are largely excluded from the analysis because they are not-for-profit organizations that fall outside the regulation of the Australian Circulation Audit Bureau. The newspapers vary in price and distribution methods. Some are delivered free of charge to households throughout the electorate whilst others are subscription or over-the-counter purchase items. Notably, the community newspapers included in the sample have lead times between two and seven days (the time difference between submission deadlines and publication) -- a distinguishing characteristic that determines the news cycle and the newsworthiness of issues within local community newspapers. While sales of many community newspapers strengthened during the election campaign, the observation by Seymour Telegraph editor, Rohan Aldous, that this had more to do with the AFL football finals should not be discounted. (11)

   As candidates proved unsuccessful in getting their parochial political agendas reported in the national and state press, local community newspapers emerged as a key communication medium. In a rural and expansive electorate, local community newspapers were a cost-effective means of mass communicating campaign messages to voters. (12) The penetration of community newspapers into households within the electorate was rivaled only by direct mail and regional television advertisements -- both costly strategies. Community newspapers filled a niche market by engaging in discourse about local information, news and values -- often excluded from the columns of the daily press. (13) In addition to cost-effectiveness, candidates deferred to community newspapers as part of an effort to localize their campaigns. Labor candidate Graeme McEwen used community media to relate the relevance of macro economic issues such as tax reform and regional services to local conditions while incumbent Member Fran Bailey used it to advance micro policy issues such as road funding and hospital services onto the macro agenda.

   To investigate the relationship between paid and earned media, the paper presents the results of...