2003 Doris Graber Award for Outstanding book on Political Communication

Co-authors Marion Just, Ann Crigler, Dean Alger, Timothy Cook, Montague Kern, and Darrell West received the 2003 Doris Graber Award for Outstanding Book on Political Communication for CROSSTALK; CITIZENS, CANDIDATES AND THE MEDIA IN A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN (University of Chicago Press, 1996). The award is given by the Political Communication Division
of the American Political Science Association (APSA) for the best book published in the last ten years. Previous award-winners have been Tom Patterson for OUT OF ORDER, Robert Entman and Andrew Rojecki for THE BLACK IMAGE IN THE WHITE MIND: MEDIA AND RACE IN AMERICA, and William Gamson for TALKING POLITICS.

CROSSTALK was commended for its methodological breadth, which involved extensive research at four sites (Boston; Winston Salem, North Carolina; Los Angeles; and Fargo-Moorhead, Minnesota). All available sources of information (from candidates, including political advertising, speeches, and general election debates; local and national news; and emerging talk show formats) were evaluated from January to November 1992. Citizen response to information was probed using multiple methods (depth interviews, focus groups, and public opinion polls). Information environments and campaigns were found to matter in the construction of public opinion. Political advertising messages were significant in presidential primaries. Candidate debates were important in general elections. Voters revise their standards of evaluation across a lengthy campaign. Perceptions of candidate traits, including personal ones, have an impact on voter choice on Election Day.

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