TY  - CHAP
AB  - Abstract This chapter explores the media coverage of the 2016 Presidential campaign and reveals the corruption fantasy themes that emerged. Media coverage of corruption can uniquely affect voter attitudes and public policy formulation and implementation, as revealed in previous scholarship on media coverage of corruption. By tracing the competing narratives offered in media coverage utilizing the constant comparative method, the dramatic characters, Crooked Hillary and Corrupt Businessman Trump, are identified and their storylines are explicated. Analysis reveals these dramatic fantasy themes chained through social media, evincing and promoting the narratives that drove media coverage of our political leaders and public policy results. The chapter illustrates that the narratives involving corruption were prominent and negative, further indicating that the media’s obsession with scandal contributed to and supported the narratives that portrayed both candidates as corrupt, adding pollution to the 2016 U.S. political environment.
VL  - 29
SN  - 978-1-78743-556-8, 978-1-78743-555-1/2053-7697
DO  - 10.1108/S2053-769720170000029006
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/S2053-769720170000029006
AU  - McHale John P.
PY  - 2017
Y1  - 2017/01/01
TI  - Media Coverage of Corruption and Scandal in the 2016 Presidential Election: Fantasy Themes of Crooked Hillary and Corrupt Businessman Trump
T2  - Corruption, Accountability and Discretion
T3  - Public Policy and Governance
PB  - Emerald Publishing Limited
SP  - 107
EP  - 123
Y2  - 2024/05/07
ER  -