This study develops a new normative and analytical framework of “democracy-framed electoral coverage” grounded in literatures that stress the role of governmental and communicative institutions in protecting democracies from threats. We define “democracy-framed electoral coverage” as journalism that embraces fairly contested elections as an established norm and political ideal, and clearly alerts the public to threats to the peaceful transfer of power. Using the U.S. as a case study of a consolidated democracy facing autocratization threats, the study applies the framework to analyze a comprehensive dataset of 708 articles encompassing twenty one races during the 2022 U.S. midterm elections when candidates who denied the results of the 2020 presidential election were on the ballot. Additionally, we conducted interviews with twelve journalists to evaluate their perspectives and practices regarding election denying candidates. We find that journalists routinely failed to alert the public to the threat posed by candidates unwilling to embrace the legitimacy of U.S. elections. This paper demonstrates the necessity of a normative framework for pro-democracy election coverage, and the findings underscore the electoral fragility of the U.S.—a case of a democracy undergoing autocratization processes and facing threats to the legitimacy of its elections and the peaceful transfer of power.

中文翻译：

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保障权力和平移交：2022 年美国中期选举期间亲民主选举框架和记者对选举否认者的报道

这项研究基于强调政府和传播机构在保护民主国家免受威胁方面的作用的文献，开发了一个新的“民主框架下的选举报道”规范和分析框架。我们将“民主框架的选举报道”定义为将公平竞争的选举视为既定规范和政治理想的新闻报道，并明确提醒公众注意权力和平移交所面临的威胁。该研究以美国作为面临独裁威胁的巩固民主的案例研究，应用该框架分析了 2022 年美国中期选举期间涵盖 21 个种族的 708 篇文章的综合数据集，当时否认 2020 年总统选举结果的候选人被在选票上。此外，我们还采访了 12 名记者，以评估他们对拒绝选举的候选人的看法和做法。我们发现，记者通常未能提醒公众注意不愿接受美国选举合法性的候选人所构成的威胁。本文论证了支持民主的选举报道规范框架的必要性，研究结果强调了美国选举的脆弱性——一个民主国家正在经历独裁化进程并面临选举合法性和权力和平移交威胁的案例。