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WORDS THAT MATTER:
​How the News and Social Media Shaped the 2016 Presidential Campaign​


​​Brookings Institution Press Page
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​Published in May 2020!
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“Yes, Hillary Clinton’s emails loomed much larger than most of the important issues in the 2016 campaign. Words That Matter is a careful, meticulously researched study about the way campaigns are covered and understood. The authors explain how questions that will matter to voters in the long term get pushed to the margins. This is an essential book for producers of the news, but also for citizens trying to sort their way through our baffling new media environment.” E.J. Dionne, Jr., senior fellow, Brookings Institution; author of Code Red: How Progressives and Moderates Can Unite to Save Our Country

“Almost everyone has an opinion about what happened in the 2016 election, but few have real data. Words That Matter has plenty, and the authors of this valuable book use a unique combination of five different data sets to make an evidence-based case that the Trump campaign’s effort to ‘flood the zone’ worked, while Hillary Clinton’s prospects were undermined by sustained media attention to her emails. A powerful analysis of a still poorly understood election and an important book for everyone interested in the intersection among American politics, news, and media.” Rasmus Nielsen, director, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Oxford University

“Words That Matter is a must-read for anyone interested in presidential campaigns and media influence. Drawing on an impressive array of traditional media and social media data along with survey responses over the course of the 2016 election, the authors provide ample evidence about how and why media may have affected the outcome even when citizen perceptions were not reflective of news attention.” Erika Franklin Fowler, director, Wesleyan Media Project; associate professor of government, Wesleyan University

“The authors have compiled the authoritative account of what journalists wrote, and what voters heard, about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump throughout the 2016 presidential election campaign. They document the very real effects of media coverage on the campaign and show how reporters who shaped the coverage of big stories, such as James Comey and the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email, could have shaped the outcome. Every political reporter in the country should read this book and grapple with the crucial role that they play in American democracy.” G. Elliott Morris, data journalist


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