Date of Award

Fall 1955

Document Type

Thesis - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Host, David

Second Advisor

Kidera, Robert A.

Third Advisor

O'Sullivan, J. L.

Abstract

This thesis is one part of a four part project undertaken by four journalism students in the Marquette University Graduate School. The project as a whole analyses from different angles the coverage of two political campaigns in the 1954 elections by the two major Milwaukee newspapers, the Milwaukee Journal and the Milwaukee Sentinel. The campaigns chosen were the race for Governor between the Republican incumbent, Walter Kohler, and the Democratic nominee, William Proxmire, and the race for Representative from the Fifth Congressional District between the Republican incumbent Charles Kersten, and the Democratic nominee, Henry Reuss. The part of the project presented here is a content analysis, using a statement system, of all the news stories which appeared in the Milwaukee Journal over a 48 day period concerning these two campaigns. The goal of this part was to discover evidence of the presence or lack of bias in the journal. Mr. Richard Voelkel has completed a similar study of the Milwaukee Sentinel. Mr. Robert Weber has completed a study of both papers using a column inch system of analysis. Mr. Thomas Brennan is working on a study of the editorials in both papers and on an explanation of the background. Together, these four theses will comprise the first complete and thorough report on the performance of Milwaukee newspapers in a political campaign.

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