Se for Campa ign Journalism

].6 1 he Ca

RodneY senson

f allowing an autocrat ic-styled presiden t to set the news agenda

Jnstead O
with his distracting and often untruthf ul remarks, journalists ought to
focus their energies elsewhere: on alerting the public to the most importan t
events and issues of the day.
I call this kind of proactiv e reportin g "campai gn journalism." Today,
this term is often associated in the United States with electoral campaigns.
Originally, however, campaig n journalis m referred to English and American
reporting during the late nineteen th century that offered in-depth coverage
1
of a social problem with the goal of prompti ng a political response. This
is not the same thing as partisan journalism, nor is it advocacy journalism
except in the broadest sense of advocati ng sustained attention to a given
problem.
Much of campaign journalis m consists of investigative reporting, but
not all investigative reporting is campaig n journalism: to count as a cam-
paign, the coverage has to be sustaine d over a substantial time period, at
least several weeks, but better yet months. It is still practiced from time
to time by leading national news organiza tions and ambitious local news
media. I am suggesting that news media concentr ated on breaking news
shift to ·
campaigns and that those currently sponsori ng campaigns do more
of them and sustam .
them for longer periods of time.
For examPe, 1 .
I"k . campaign reportin g in the Trump era could focus on the
I ely impact f h
h
ea1th care
° ·
t e presiden t's proposed policies (deep cuts to education,
ing t ' antipove rty program s, etc.) or problem s he is actively seek-
Pai: make worse (such as climate change); alternatively, journalistic cam-
o ..s could d. . .
decisi ig mto social trends that Trump is ignoring, but that are
I
~Y~m · .
tion e ging the country' s political and social climate (globahza-
, conom·
ic re structuring, growing inequality, drug addiction, etc.)
214
Rodney Benson

Of course , President Dona ld Trum p treats any critical coverage

as a per-
sonal threat. He will hate even more being ignor ed. Already, he
has called a
press corps that has mostly only accurately relayed his remar II
ks an enemy
of the American people." For this reason, self-respecting journa
lists have
nothi ng to lose in taking a more assertive appro ach. To be clear,
I am not
calling for journalists to return insul t for injury. I am not calling
for more
partisan opini on writing. Effective camp aign journalism has
to be firmly
rooted in the facts. But make no mistake: it must be relentless
and even
ruthless in repor ting- and repea ting- the truth .

lead, Don't Follow

Beliefs in media power to the contrary, research has repeatedly

established
that media tend to follow rather than lead the political agend
a. Media
"index" their coverage to what political elites are doing and 2
saying. This
tendency supports democracy when there are two strong partie
s that also
keep each other in check: in such cases, media pluralism reflect
s political
pluralism. When one party completely domi nates governmen
t, however,
and there is little intern al party dissent, journalists are faced with
a difficult
choice: either index their coverage to a one-sided discourse or
else proac-
tively present the other side themselves .
During the first year of the Trump presidency, America's leadin
g news
orgam.zation.
s have indee d been characterized as playm . h'
g t is oppos itional
ro1e. But they have only done so reluctantly, wherever possi"bl leaning on
e
.
an d followmg the political oppos ition (whether rare rogue Republicans or
outspoken, but largely powerless Democrats). Critical or not in their corn·
' .
mentary, media have mostly playe d Trump's game by indexmg their cover·
age to his every move.
E d
ven so, President Trump conti nuall y attacks news org anizat .
ions an
news
Promme . . . .
nt md1v1dual journalists. Partly as a result, publ'1C trost in the
med· · . . . earlY
ia is at record lows, altho ugh opini ons are sharp1 divided. n
1
2017 90 Y b t 0 nlY
' percent of Democrats and 70 perce nt of In dep endents,. . u11ead·
42 . . . of pohtica
percent of Republicans, believed that "media cntic1 srn 'de-ranging
ers keeps th , " These W1
em from doing thing s they shoul dn t. h n 70 per-
percenta
ges are a dramatic chang e from 2016, Wh en rnore t da with .
cent of Re bl' this
pu icans, Democrats and Indep enden ts alike agree
statement_] ,
 215
aign Jour nali sm
for earn P
f he c ase

nstr eam new s orga niza -

. olar ized env iron men t, not hin g tha t mai
th1 p Id be com pell ing or cred ible to dieh ard Tru mp part isan s. But
In s
dow ou er half of vote rs, not
tions f get that suc h part isan s mak e up wel l und
sno t or forg e ahe ad and do
Jet u . the tota l adu lt pop ulac e. Jou rnal ists sho uld
enu on incl ude s man y Inde -
to 111 tell the trut h to the maj orit y, a gro up that
to hav e not yet clos ed thei r min ds
weir best d wea k Tru mp sup port ers who . . . 4
ende nts an atio n tha t put s the pres iden t 1n a bad hgh t.
P . form
to factua1 in

Rep eat Kee p It Fresh

Repo rt' '
to be reta ined , it has to be
. . 1 cam paig ns kno w tha t for a mes sage
pohtiCa le "me ssag e
d mul tiple time s. Thi s is why they ofte n striv e for a sing
repeat e ture s the thru st of the enti re
of the week" or eve n bett er, a them e that cap 5
in. "
campaign, such as "Ma ke Am eric a Gre at Aga
ch, thou gh with a cave at.
Psychological rese arch has affi rme d this hun
to a poin t, afte r whi ch time
Repetition help s rete ntio n and pers uasi on up
es. Thu s, a succ essf ul cam -
6
it may actu ally alie nate and diss uad e aud ienc
hes to say the sam e thin g, but
paign has to con tinu ally figu re out app roac
in novel, inte rest ing way s.
jour nali stic cam paig ns that
There are plen ty of exa mpl es of succ essf ul
suggest how it can be don e.
Dispatch in 187 9, Jose ph
Shortly afte r purc hasi ng the St. Louis Pos t and
inst the city 's pow erfu l olig ar-
Pulitzer laun ched a seri es of cam paig ns aga
the St. Lou is Gas -Lig ht Com -
chy. Pulitzer beg an with a cam paig n aga inst
that had allo wed it to char ge
pany's efforts to re-e stab lish the mon opo ly
in the nati on. As Puli tzer 's
St Louis resi dent s the high est util ity char ges
biographer, Jam es McG rath Mor ris, writ es:
Every day for the next two week s, Puli
tzer shoe horn ed into the pape r artic les that
detaile d the · . . and featu red poig nant in-
t . mon opoh stic prac tices of the gas com pany
erviews With . t·1 1.zed cust ome rs. The flurr y of artic les, as well as the cont inuo us
str VIC m .
eam of edit . I .
ona s-ap pea nng , as they usua lly did, und er the bann er head lme- No
CoMP 7
No C s atten tion .
ROMisEI
· OMPROMISE! No COMPROMISE!- cau ght the city'
Soon h like a one -no te com pos itio n."
Need · '" owever, the "pa per beg an to sou nd
Ing ano th . and attr act read -
ers," Pui- er cam paig n tha t wou ld goa d the olig arch s
1t2er's edit c rest and fury :
tax dodo-i ors ioun d a new ang le to gen erat e read er inte
o•ng. In add1·t 10· one st tax
d
eciaratio n to unc ove ring info rma tion abo ut dish
ns b y t he ly rem inde d
wea lthy, the Pos t and Disp atch una bas hed
 Rodney Ben son
216

the moral issues at stake. Each. day, "the pape r repr inted th e text
readers of ,
ers' oath , with the head line . Wha t Tax-Dodgers Swear anct
of the taxp aY ,
city r .
,,,s Ultimately' Pulitzer s gas cam paig n succ eede d (the e1ectect
Swall ow.
e th~ tax campaign
the company's plan to ~est~re its mon opol y), whil
zer had c1early
lt ed 1·n a state inve stiga tion but no refo rms. But Pulit
resu
ial success. The Post
hit on a successful formula for both civic and com merc
of stories ... that made
and Dispatch filled its "news colu mns with the kind
ed the interests of the
people talk,"9 and built its read ersh ip as it cham pion
middle and lower classes.
othe r examples of
Over the course of the past cent ury, ther e have been
s, the French news-
successful campaign journalism. Duri ng the early 1980
of the beurs, the second
paper Liberation actively help ed prom ote the caus e
Between October and
generation of Algerian imm igra nts livin g in France.
n coverage of a beur
December of 1983, the new spap er prov ided satu ratio
ed their arrival in the
march starting in the sout h of France and proc laim
and photograph. In so
nation's capital with a front-page bann er head line
e "multicultural" vision
doing, Liberation also proclaimed the arrival of a mor
different." Liberation's
of French identity and of imm igra nts' "rig ht to be
imate arguments about
campaign thus provided a space for and help ed legit 10

that had here tofo re rece ived little atten tion in France.
cultural diversity
and enthusiastic cover-
Two decades earlier, some US new spap ers' exte nsiv e
a campaign.
age of civil rights could also be fairly char acte rized as

Trum p
Doubling Down: Behind, Besides, and Beyo nd

of Trump? Some news

What could campaign journalism look like in the age ·gns TheY
organizat'mns are already laun chin g cam paig ns or proto-campai ·
.
are afraid to call them as such, but they shou ldn' t be. d its Water
The Wa h mgto·
s n Post, at Jeff Bezos's prod ding , has rediscovere rrtng bega11
gate mojo Th e pape rs '
· bold reclaiming of nati onal political repohesitated to
wen before T , d we
rump s election. But clearly the pape r has not ms an
aggressively co h' ' erged
rul ver t is adm inist ratio n's flou ting of political. nor
s bas rn
e oflaw. The p t' s reporting .
th os on Trum p's Russia connection d thus cotJld
e categories of b . for
be cons·1ct reaking and sust aine d in-d epth reporting, anthe resultS tpe
erect a typ Of
Pulitzer th· e cam paig n jour nalis m. And similar tocial terms as
, 1s camp ai h
Paper has a . gn as paid off hand som ely in cornrnerues. 11
·
ggress1ve1y incre ased its digit al reac h and reven
 alism 217
ig n Journ
fo r c a m p a
rtte case
it
inut. R
h th e Wash o•on ost for scoops,
b u t it
p e te s w
he New York
Times c o m . g th a t th e Post tends n o t to
T . .
o f c a m p a ig n re p o rt in .
re n t k in d h
s a n d th e.u uman unpact ·
does a d if fe . e n t p o li c ie
o v e rn m
a.Jso
le n tl e s s re p o rt in g o n g in d o f reportin g , as one long-tim
e
. re for th is k ·
do , as a n a m e . es h as 1ong pounded
Times even h n d in g th e z o n e ." The Tim
The to m e : "p ou of
rt e r c o n fi d e d. . . . d e m a n d in g m o re h u m a n e treatment
ue , the zone
repo ig ra tw n iss rly p o u n d e d
o n e o n th e im m a s a ls o c le a
th e Z n ts . It h o f the
n d o c u m e n te d im m ig ra p e a te d d o cumentation
arrested u o v erage, p ro v id
in g re
licies Will mak
e
n m e n ta l c Tru m p 's p o
in its e n v ir o a k in g th e c
ase th a t
e, m
m a te c h a n g
effects o f c li the
ti o n e v e n w orse. t T ru m p . T his has been
a bad s it u a be abo u
u rn a li s m n e e d n o t o n ly t, w h ic h has focu
sed on
a ig n jo T o n ig h
cam p
v e r' s show,
Last Week ia n s do. Wi
th few
f J o h n O li th e p o li ti c
approach o n t issues w e
ll before y daily
rin g th e im p o rt a
T ru m p 's tw eets a n d nearl
discov e tly ig n o re d onsibly
s, O li v e r h as steadfas w n e w s m e dia can resp
exception v id e s a m o d
e l fo r h o
v en if in cr it
ical
12
h e s h o w p ro fo ll o W in g (e
scandals. T alw a y s
e a g e n d a ra th e r th a n
attempt to s
et th
a ti o n in p o
we r.
in is tr n in th e
e a g e n d a o f th e a d m
e in g a c la s sic campaig
mode) th o rt o f b s of
o f th is re p o rt in g falls s h n ru n n in g to thousand
But m o s t , a n d ofte p ear after
n . A lt h o u g h in -d e p th s g e nerally disap
tr a d it io re p o rt
Pulitzer to s , th e n ded . Even re
gu -
fe a tu ri n g p o w e rf u l p h o e to b e p o u
words a n d ew zo n at
ly to b e re p la c e d by a n a t's w o rs e , though, is th
h
a few days o n et a n d m o v e
on. W d.
ers a re li k e ly to fo rg
n d th o s e a lr eady convince
lar read c h bey o
is re p o rt in g fails to re a
much o f th

r Everyone
Excellence fo urnalism an d
to d a y 's in v esti gative jo
es t d if fe re nce b e tw e e n
th e re p o rt ing is for. At
ig g era is w h o m
Perh aps the b f P u li tzer 's r cre-
aig n jo u rn a li s m o
is N ew Yo rk World, Puli tze
the camp uen tl y a t h ast,
D is p a tc h , a n d subseq v e ry o n e; in m arked con tr
th e Post and e d excell enc
e fo r e as said
sp ap e rs th a t p ro v id
, A rt h u r S u lzberger, J r., h 13
ated n ew e N e w Yo rk Times a u d ien ces. "
o f th r q uali ty
th e curren t p u b li s h er q u ali ty n ews fo -
i s a b o u t "p rov id in g
n h a s a rg u e d tha t d im in
his n ewsp ap
er l Sch u d s o
g ist M ich ae c as a
n iv e rs i ty so c io lo
s ta n d in for th e p u bli
_Col um bia U
eli te , au d ien ces
ca n · terest s an d
m
creasi n gl y te m ay h ave
ishing, and in u rs e , is th a t th is eli . Moreover, som e
f c o
hole· T e p ro bl em, o c.
14 h li
W a d e r p u b t
. y fr o m th e b ro · a n eye ou
d ' s ta n ti a ll e e p m g
t
ideas th a 1verge s u b n tatives k
h a v e fe w e li te re prese
rnarginali zed groups m a y
218

for their concerns. For example, many elites may be

. on po1·t· l most c°ncern
inside-Washingt 1 1Ca maneuvering and 1
. .. . . egaI p ect ab 0
whereas a s1gmficant plurality if not majority of voters arerocecturat issu . ut
. . . .
with economic mequahty, Jobs, education and heaith cmost con cernes,
'
Beltway coverag e, of course, can be very impo t are. Insict ect
r ant as · e-th
healthy functioning of democracy, but this kind f it concern e.
o news sh s the
allowed to completely crowd out reporting that hit s c1oser to °uict not
h be
ate and urgent concern s of average citizens . t e irnrnedi.
Campaigns that are mostly targeted at the like-mincte .
ct
backfire in the end. This is what happen ed to Liberati , may only
. on s beur "ct·1
campaign. After Jean-Mane Le Pen's National Front party con versity" ·
. . .
gained ground m local and regional elections in the mid- 1980s sistenuy
· 1po1·1t1ca . 1debate to the right Liberati • effectiVely
shifting the nat10na , on was am
first to backtrack and ultimately even took the lead in refr amingth . ong the
e.
gration debate around the need for "integration." Its earli er campaigimmi. f
diversity thus had few lasting effects. n or
A similar fate could befall the nascent campaigns of us elite Journalism . .
. . . .
In dec1dmg what to cover, 1ournahsts need to venture outside the·1r comfort·
zones and not just preach to the choir. Campaign reporting will be more
compelling and powerful when journalists transcend their blind spots, no
longer assuming that what is most important to them and to their own
social circles will be most important to a wide range of citizens.
15

It may be that the most influential campaign journalism will not come
from the prestige outlets like the Washington Post or the New York Times.
The local nonprofit outlets that have spread across the country in recent
years-such as MinnPost, Voice of San Diego, and Texas Tribune-could
be one fount of social problem-based campaign reporting. Unfortunately,
foundation policies currently push many nonprofits to pursue an elitist
news strategy, following the Sulzberger mantra of quality news for quality
audiences.
Local television news, when it is not focused on crime and celebritieS,
has the opportunity and capacity to create campaigns with real impact. As
· television news award compet1·t10n
· dge for a ma1or · over the past few
a JU
1 al TV news
years, I have viewed several excellent examples of sustained oc overnrnent
1 ..
coverage that shows the human consequences of failed loca g d c1V1·
. and effectively pushes for legislative remedies. In ther
Pol'icies
wor
. · what we ha
s, ve °
11 ·
ca Yeffective campaigri journalism may look nothing hke
 campaign Jou rnal ism 219
case for
,i,e

e newspapers. That's probabl Y a good thing.

16
xpe ct from US elit
.
001 e
to e .
c Ilenge wil l be to figu re out how to encourage mo re 1D1 pactfu1 cam-
rne cha fit or commera· a1means . 17
. urnalism, wh eth er thr oug h non pro
paign JO

Notes
t and Impact of Campaign·mg Joumal-
Melissa Jea n Score, ."Th e Dev elop men . ·

1. see Old New Jou rnal ism ? Ph.D. thesis, Birkbeck, Um-.
11

. Britain, 184 0-1 875 . The tics Pri t

ism in
·ty of London, 2015; and Jam es .
,, in Poli , n ,
Mc Gra th Morris, Pulitzer: A LiFe
vers1 2010).
and power (New York: Harper Perennial,
gman,
_ w. Lance Bennett, News: The Poli
tics of Illusion, 9th ed. (New York: Lon
2
2011).
tudes abo ut the News Media Deeply
_ pew Research Cen ter, "Americans ' Atti 7/05 /10/
3 2017, http://www.journalism.org/201
Divided along Partisan Lines," May 9, .
dia-deeply-divided-along-partisan-lines
americans-attitudes-about-the-news-me

4. see also cha pter 12 by Dan iel Kre

iss in this volume.
volume.
s. See also chapter 11 by Julia Sonnevend in this
on on Argu-
6. Joh n T. Cacioppo and Richard
E. Petty, "Effects of Message Repetiti
on," Basic and Applied Soci al Psychology IO
ment Processing, Recall, and Persuasi
(1989): 3-12.

7. Morris, 164.

8. Morris, 164.

9. Ibid., 171.
(Cam-
10. Rodney Benson, Shaping Immigra
tion News: A French-American Comparison
3), 110-112.
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 201
New
Post, Breaking News, Is Also Breaking
11. James B. Stewart, "Washington /05/19/
2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017
Ground," New York Times, May 19,
.htm l.
business/washington-post-digital-news
ring
Returns to Out News the New s-B y Igno
12. Angela Watercutter, "Jo hn Oliver -oliver
7, https://www.wired.com/2017/02/ john
Trump," The Wire, February 10, 201
-trump-agenda.
ool of
hur Sulzberger, Jr., at Columbia Sch
l3. Morris, 212-215; remarks by Art
s.
Journalism, April 6, 2011, auth or note
14· Michael Schudson, Why Democracies Need an Unlovable Pres
s (Cambridge : Poli ty
Press, 2008), 14_
220
Rodney 8
eriso11

Seth LeWis in th·

15 . See also chapte r 22 by Pablo Boczkowski and IS Volum
e.
Solve the Journ alism C . .
l6. Rodney Benson, "Can Found ations ns1s?·, 11 t0 urnatisrn
.
(2017): 1-19, first publis hed onlme Augus t 31, doi:10 .1177 /1 46488
4917724612.
ign journa lism by Scotti h .
17. For a sympa thetic critiqu e of campa s ehte anct tabJoict
newspapers and the articu lation of a new norma tive frame work IO .
. . . . support of derno.
cratically efficacious campa ign 1ourn ahsm, see Jen Birks ' "The Oemocrati
c Role of
Camp aign Journa lism," Journalism Practice 4 (2010): 208-2 2 3 .

18. See also chapte r 24 by Victor Pickar d in this volum e.