CSAP Predoc: The Rise and Fall of Publisher-Politicians
POSITION FILLED
This position is part of The Center for the Study of American Politics (CSAP) Pre-Doctoral Fellows Program, which is affiliated with the Tobin Center/Economics Pre-Doctoral Fellows Program. The CSAP predoc program provides a high-quality education and training in quantitative political science research for individuals who are considering pursuing a Ph.D. in political science or a closely related discipline. CSAP predocs are invited to participate in all Tobin Center predoc activities. Information about the CSAP predoc program is available at this link.
FACULTY SUPERVISOR:
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Professor Kevin DeLuca’s project is focused on examining the ideological positions, political influence, and electoral success of “Publisher-Politicians” – newspaper publishers, editors, or journalists who get appointed to or get elected to a political office. Unlike in today’s media environment, where journalists and publishers strive to be unbiased and achieve balance in their coverage of politics, newspaper reporters, editors, and publishers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were highly partisan and politically active figures in American life. Part of the project is also aimed at documenting the rise and fall of the prevalence of publisher-politicians as the overall local newspaper environment transforms from being a highly partisan industry to a more independent, profit-focused industry starting around the early/mid 1900s.
REQUISITE SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS:
Research assistants will help compile a new comprehensive historical dataset on newspaper publishers, which will be merged to election data, legislative behavior (when applicable), and newspaper editorials and endorsements, to evaluate the historical influence and electoral performance of publisher-politicians, and the extent to which favorable news coverage from their own newspapers assists them in their endeavors. The research assistant tasks for this project would be approximately 50% doing historical research and dataset construction (investigating and collecting data on newspaper publishers, with special attention to those who serve in politics), and 50% performing statistical analyses/manuscript drafting.