Different Year, (Mostly) Same Coverage: Comparing the 2016 and 2020 Election News Posted on Facebook

Abstract

Presidential elections typically follow a consistent pattern of news coverage. After the 2016 election, the news media faced intense criticism, a process called metajournalistic discourse. This research seeks to understand how election coverage may have shifted in 2020 considering this public scrutiny. By conducting a quantitative content analysis of news posted on Facebook during the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential campaigns, we show that despite self-reflective calls to do better, much of the campaign coverage remained unchanged in 2020. Finally, we detail how election coverage from traditional, partisan, and online-first networks evolved (or not) between 2016 and 2020.