Politics is the area of a society’s government, laws and public affairs. Political news is the media coverage of these issues. When writing articles about politics, writers must consider several different viewpoints on a topic and provide information from all sides of an issue. This style of article can be more difficult than other types of news.
In addition to analyzing news trends, political journalists often need to interview people involved in the politics they are covering. The interviews can be on and off the record, in person or by phone. It’s best to interview a wide variety of people when writing about politics, as opinions can vary widely. Also, it’s important to keep in mind that a story about a politician or political event should be accurate and fair.
When we ask Americans to name their main source for election news, one-in-ten mention Fox News and about a quarter cite CNN. However, when we break down these data by age and political affiliation, it becomes clear that the major outlets are not as dominant as they might seem.
In addition, the conventional approach to studying the role of the mass media in American politics by testing people’s factual knowledge of public affairs has been criticized as a “civics fallacy” (Norris 2000, Graber 1994). Rather than seeking encyclopedic information to make reasoned electoral choices, most citizens process the news they consume selectively and parsimoniously, investing just enough effort to get an impression of salient events and relevant issues.