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<Paper uid="W06-1706">
  <Title>Web Coverage of the 2004 US Presidential Election</Title>
  <Section position="2" start_page="1" end_page="1" type="intro">
    <SectionTitle>
1 Introduction
</SectionTitle>
    <Paragraph position="0"> Most attempts to monitor the campaign performance of presidential candidates focus on public opinion, which is influenced by the consumption of media products. Analyzing patterns of political communication, however, should include the consumption as well as the production of content (Howard 2003). Monitoring candidates' coverage on the Web provides a complementary source of empirical data and window into the evolving concept of electronic democracy (Dutton, Elberse et al. 1999).</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="1"> A recent Pew/Internet survey (Horrigan, Garrett et al. 2004) found that four out of ten US Internet users aged 18 or older accessed political material during the 2004 presidential campaign, up 50 percent from the 2000 campaign. For political news in general, more than two thirds of American broadband users and over half the dialup users seek Web sites of national news organizations. International news sites are the second most popular category at 24 and 14 percent, respectively. null</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="3"> As traditional media extend their dominant position to the online world, analyzing their Web sites should therefore reflect the majority of political content accessed by the average user.</Paragraph>
  </Section>
class="xml-element"></Paper>