News about politics or public issues or policies. It may be based on fact or opinion and usually includes reporting on the responsibilities of government to its citizens, the process of government or civil society. It may also cover the political machinations of major corporations or interest groups as they try to shape legislation, regulations, public policy, and campaigns for elected office.
Theories of news media and democracy postulate that the functions of political news include recording events, reflecting public opinion, acting as a watchdog to disclose political misbehavior, and facilitating civic engagement and discourse. The positive functions of political news are thought to be best performed under conditions that include press freedom, a diverse media environment, and journalistic standards relating to accuracy, objectivity, independence, plurality, and balance.
During election seasons, newsrooms struggle to keep up with politicians saying and posting things that are off the wall or simply crazy. With limited resources, it is impossible for many newsrooms to report on every piece of bluster. Instead, a better strategy is to document the rhetoric and dig deeper by examining what beliefs or ideologies underlie the comments as the Kansas City Star did with Representative Josh Hawley’s religious nationalism or the Denver Post did with Senator Lauren Boebert’s Christian nationalism.
Some scholars are investigating the impact of a relatively new type of horse race journalism, in which newsrooms present polling data as a percentage likelihood that one candidate will win over another. They suggest that more collaboration between researchers invested in empirical questions about uncertainty communication and journalists who develop forecast models for their audiences could help to improve the effectiveness of this approach.