The Nightly News Nightmare, Third Edition, examines news coverage of presidential nomination and election campaigns from 1988 to 2008. The book focuses on changes in the amount, tone, and focus of news coverage in these different electoral contexts. In addition to network news, the authors examine online news, cable television, talk radio, candidate campaign discourse in these election years. Farnsworth and Lichter find that the news media, despite the wide variety of outlets, have consistent problems in terms of fairness and focus on substantive matters rather than the horse-race reporting of the latest polls. In addition to the extensive discussion of the 2008 campaign, the third edition offers far more discussion and evidence regarding the use of alternative media, including online content, in the most recent presidential election. The authors conclude that online news had many of the same problems found in mainstream news coverage.

Stephen J. Farnsworth is professor of political science and international affairs at the University of Mary Washington and director of the University's Center for Leadership and Media Studies. He is the author or co-author of several books on media and politics and a former daily newspaper journalist. Farnsworth was recognized with an award for his dedication and service to Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society, at the American Political Science Association Conference 2016.

1 The Media and Presidential Elections: Studying News Content
2 A Need-to-Know Basis? Covering Issues of Substance and the Horse Race
3 Who Elected You? Candidates versus Reporters
4 A Plague on (almost) All Your Houses: Fairness, Negativity, and Accuracy
5 "Nobody Does It Better"? Comparing Key Campaign News Sources
6 Maybe Next Year? The Future of Campaign Coverage