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This article compares news making on television during recent national election campaigns in the United States, Britain, and Germany and focuses on one of the most interesting problems confronting news professionals in modern democracies at election time: the concept of balance. The principle of balance conflicts with the principle of objectivity. Television news professionals are thus faced with a dilemma at election time: how to report the campaign impartially while adhering to news values as the basis for story selection. This article shows that this dilemma is resolved differently in each country, based on data from observation and interviews in TV newsrooms as well as content analysis of main evening news coverage during the final weeks of recent election campaigns. The article argues that the way in which the dilemma is resolved in each country is influenced by journalistic culture, itself shaped by systemic factors, institutional rules, and political culture.

Based on coverage of the 1990 elections in Germany, and the 1992 elections in the US and Great Britain.

Content analysis of US news coverage and survey of 1,117 US adults.

Small or new political parties may be specially dependent upon media attention and a country's election communication arrangements may have an important impact on a new party's recognition-gaining chances. This article focuses on the response of Britain's broadcast media to the SDP-Liberal Alliance, drawing on a content analysis of television news coverage of the 1983 general election campaign. A number of variables are used to assess the coverage of the parties including: the prominence of stories; the amount of `soundbite' material from party spokespersons; the proportion of party-initiated versus media-initiated stories; reporters' commentary; and key visuals. Party and media agendas are also compared. This case study suggests that Britain's election communication arrangements presented both advantages and disadvantages to the `third force'. In conclusion, a number of factors are identified as important to future research on the amenability of political communication systems to small or new political parties.

"Kleinere oder neue politische Parteien sind besonders stark auf die Beachtung der Medien angewiesen, und die Gestaltung der Wahlkampfberichterstattung in einem Land kann die Chancen einer neuen Partei, Aufmerksamkeit zu erregen, in einschneidender Weise beeinflussen. Der Beitrag untersucht anhand einer Inhaltsanalyse von Fernsehberichten zum britischen Wahlkampf des Jahres 1983 die Aufnahme des sozialdemokratisch-liberalen Wahlbündnisses durch die britischen Rundfunkmedien. Mehrere Variablen werden benutzt, um die Behandlung der verschiedenen Parteien einzuschätzen. Die inhaltlichen Prioritäten der Parteien sowie der Medien werden verglichen. Diese Einzelfallstudie deutet darauf hin, daß die Wahlberichterstattung in Großbritannien der 'Dritten Kraft' sowohl Vor- wie Nachteile geboten hat. Zum Schluß werden mehrere Faktoren identifiziert, die bei der zukünftigen Forschung über die Zugänglichkeit politischer Kommunikationssysteme für kleinere oder neue politische Parteien von Wichtigkeit sein werden." (Autorenreferat)