ABSTRACT

Media coverage was an important component of the National Issues Convention, providing the means for a linkage between the representative sample of citizens selected as delegates to the NIC and the public whom they represented. This media coverage was of two types. One was the traditional coverage provided by national and local newspapers and television stations. The second type provided broader coverage of the event by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which was involved in the NIC from its inception and covered the event as part of its 1996 focus on democracy.