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.The number of news stories in the New YorkTimes increased by 38 percent between the pre-Bork and post-Borkperiods.Time magazine coverage was even more dramatic.The table also reveals that press interest did not wane followingthe Souter or Thomas nominations, although not all nominations willreceive that intensity of coverage.Interest may flag if a succession ofnoncontroversial nominees occurs.But, given presidential propensityhow the process broke 99Table 3.2Placement in Network News Broadcast of Stories of Supreme CourtNominees 1990 1994 (ABC, NBC, and CBS combined)Souter Thomas Ginsburg BreyerPlacement (%) (%) (%) (%)1st third 54 53 70 662nd 34 36 23 313rd 12 11 7 3Total 100 100 100 100(N = 38) (N = 105) (N = 44) (N = 34)Source: Vanderbilt University Television News Abstracts Archive.to seek to pack the Court, the reality of divided government, and othermotives for opposition stated earlier, that is unlikely.Another way to measure newsworthiness is the salience of newsstories of a Supreme Court nomination by media organizations.Doesa nomination story receive priority over other news? A study of allstories of nominations broadcast on network evening news between1990 and 1994 was conducted to test whether this thesis is true.Thestudy examined the placement of news stories of four nominations(Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer) on the three major network tele-vision evening news broadcasts.Table 3.2 divides evening news broad-casts into thirds (10-minute segments) and categorizes nominationnews stories according to their placement in those groupings.This table demonstrates that nomination stories have been highlynewsworthy.At least half of the stories about each nomination wereaired in the first third of broadcasts.The salience of these stories maybe related to their infrequency.With only nine justices serving lifeterms, personnel change on the Court is relatively rare compared withother types of news.Stories about the initial announcement of a Supreme Court nomi-nation merited high placement.That was especially true in the case ofStephen Breyer, whose announcement was divided over two daysthe Friday on which the announcement was made and the followingMonday, when a formal ceremony occurred.Broadcast news coverage100 electing justiceon Monday also showed the White House s staged photo opportunityof the president jogging with Judge Breyer.But such attention also can be attributed to some controversyassociated with nominations.The Thomas confirmation hearings, forexample, attracted high priority on evening news broadcasts, espe-cially during the second round involving Anita Hill s accusations.And still another factor is the routine of press coverage.The firstday of confirmation hearings of even the less controversial nomina-tions Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer also received broadcast newsattention because of the drama of the setting.However, that coveragedid not extend to subsequent days because of the lack of controversy.The involvement of groups and the media has altered the commu-nication methods of the formal players in the process.In a process gonepublic, the old systems of communication and persuasion are no longeradequate.Backroom negotiation has been at least partly supplanted.Even when it occurs, it does so under the shadow of potential immedi-ate public disclosure by one or more of the participants.The motive todisclose private negotiations is strong in that the first to speak to thepress may shape the media s and the public s perceptions.Under the old system, interest group lobbyists, White House staff,Senate staff, and the legal community could communicate directlyand privately.Interaction was personal because it involved a smallcircle of participants.The players today include a larger array of physically distantgroups and individuals unable to sit down together or pass each otherin hallways.As stated earlier, more than 300 interest group organiza-tions were involved in the anti-Bork coalition.41The new means of communication utilized today are mass mediaoutlets [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]