• What is the Lear Center Local News Archive?


• What stations were chosen?


• How were the stations chosen?


• How were the news stories in the archive selected?


• When did the stories in the archive air?


• How were the data in the archive collected?


• How do I search the archive?


• How many search fields can I search at once?


• What if I am having problems using the archive?



 

What is the Lear Center Local News Archive?

The Lear Center Local News Archive is the first searchable video database of campaign news stories aired on regular local television news broadcasts. The 2004 archive contains campaign stories aired in selected weeks in 11 markets during the 2004 general election campaign. The archive allows users to define either broad or narrow search criteria, then watch the stories that match their selections.

What stations were chosen?

This is a list of all the stations in the 2004 archive, including their respective networks, markets and owners. In July 2004, station groups across the country committed to provide free air time to 2004 political candidates. This list indicates which stations made that pledge.

How were the stations chosen?

The archive allows users to search for campaign news stories from selected stations across the country. Eleven media markets were selected (Dallas, Dayton, Denver, Des Moines, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Seattle and Tampa.) whose television stations are owned by ownership groups of varying size; markets with Spanish-language stations; markets with duopolies; and markets that have competitive federal and state races as well as those markets where there are inarguably local and down-ticket races to cover. They also include station groups whose owners have made a public commitment to offering free air time to candidates within their news broadcasts.

When did the stories in the archive air?

All of the stories in the 2004 archive aired during selected weeks in the 2004 general election campaign.

How were the data in the archive collected?

The television content for this project was captured through a sophisticated market-based media server technology. Media servers, located physically in each of the markets, electronically capture television news programming between 5:00pm and 11:30pm every evening and divide it into 30 minute segments of digitally recorded video. These segments from each day’s worth of captured programming are sent over the Internet to the University of Wisconsin NewsLab servers overnight. Once the recorded programming is transferred from each of the media markets via web to the NewsLab servers, the InfoSite online software systems developed by CommIT take over. There are two distinct but interrelated InfoSite systems: the Clipping System and the Coding System. Using the Clipping System, the 30 minute segments are divided into news and non-news programming, and all election-related content is tagged. Election-related news stories are sent to the Coding System where coders enter information about each story including length, candidates covered, focus and length of candidate soundbites. Both InfoSite systems include thorough validation checks, which do not allow questions to be left unanswered and ensure that question answers are logically consistent. NewsLab staff can log and encode over 2,000 hours of digital video a week, roughly 300 hours a day.

How were the news stories in the archive selected?

Between September 27 and November 2, 2004, the archive captured all programming from 5:00 pm to 11:30 pm on four network affiliates in each of 11 markets. For selected weeks, we analyzed all news programming and note when public affairs programming such as locally produced political talk shows, debates and town hall meetings air. All news stories were logged, and campaign stories were extracted for the archive. A campaign story is one that refers in any way to the November 2, 2004 elections.

How do I search the archive?

After registering, you have Web access to the archive. The Lear Center Local News Archive is a powerful tool that allows you to search thousands of campaign stories that aired on local news stations during the 2004 elections. The archive is organized to allow you to search by Election Stories, Candidates and Soundbites.

To start, click on one of the tabs (Election Story Search, Candidate Search or Soundbite Search) at the top of the page. Within each of these general search areas, you may select from criteria. If you are not interested in searching by a particular area or criterion, simply leave it blank.

When you conduct a search using multiple search criteria (e.g., Date Story Aired, Overall Story Tone), a particular story will be included in your results only if it satisfies ALL of your selections. For example, if you select Date Story Aired (November 1st) and Overall Story Tone (positive), the archive will display campaign stories that aired on November 1st AND that had a positive tone.

When you have made your selections, hit the SUBMIT button. The archive will display each campaign story that satisfies your search query. To watch the entire story, click play.

How many search fields can I search at once?

You can select as many different search criteria as you want. If you are not interested in a particular search criterion, simply leave it blank. Using multiple search criteria at once will most likely narrow your results.

What if I am having problems using the archive?

Your browser must be set to accept cookies in order to access the archive. If you're using Internet Explorer, go to the Tools menu, and select Internet Options. On the Privacy tab, move the slider to "Accept All Cookies." If you still experience problems logging into the archive, try using Netscape instead. You can enable cookies in Netscape by going to the Tools drop-down menu. Select Cookie Manager and Unblock Cookies from this Site. If you are having problems using the archive or have additional questions, contact us at enter@usc.edu.