ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the tapestry of items emphasized in the evening news version of the election on cable and broadcast television. It shows saw how, despite the potential for variety offered by cable television, CNN and ABC similarly portray the campaign as a non-ideological, partisan, political contest. The chapter explores how thematically the two networks share an interest in the horserace but under certain circumstances will address economic issues; how they have a similar appetite for a sustained quantity of non-issue coverage; how they are both keenly interested in themselves. Routines are dictated more by the environment of the newsroom and the campaign field than by the economic or technological concerns of the network. These settings strongly affect how newsworkers do their jobs. The desk, or the newsroom, serves as the command center where production comes together and large-scale coverage decisions are made.
