UC Merced Undergraduate Research Journal

In the growing field of literature on media reporting and politics, there is a vacancy of knowledge on the study of factors that lead to media reporting. That is, what variables negatively or positively relate to media reporting levels? In this paper, I study that question by looking at data from the presidential primary elections of 2016 and 2020. I look at reporting across over 300 media outlets, for 45 candidates. I analyze eight separate variables and their relationship to media reporting rates. I find strong relationships between reporting rates versus campaign contributions and party identification.