Press Releases — October-December, 2004

LexisNexis: Journalists Hungry for Information on Candidates
Database study indicates election topics dominate searches

DAYTON, OH, September 02, 2004 - Journalists hungry for anything and everything to do with George W. Bush and John Kerry have conducted more than a half million searches of the LexisNexis^® news and information database, according to an extensive study conducted by senior research engineers at the Dayton-based company.

From April 1 to July 15, the names of the two presidential hopefuls were searched in conjunction with a variety of words associated with the pair 540,458 times, the analysis showed. And, it's no surprise election-related verbiage most often dominated the text of those searches.

For instance, journalists searching the word Iraq did so in connection with Bush's name 3,013 times. Meanwhile, Kerry and Iraq was searched 847 times. But, the word Vietnam was searched 739 times for Kerry while only 123 times for Bush.

It was the name of the challenger that was most-often searched in connection with the name of each candidate. Journalists searching the phrase George W. Bush attached the words John Kerry more than another other search - a total of 4,593 times. On the other hand, journalists specifically searching for John Kerry included the words George W. Bush 4,581 times.

Overall, during the study period, journalists searched the name of incumbent President Bush 54,836 times while looking up John Kerry only 36,951 times.

How's that stack up against similar searches during the 2000 presidential election? From July to October 2000, George W. Bush's name was searched 33,585 times by journalists using the LexisNexis "news library" function. Meanwhile, Al Gore's name was pulled up 31,553 times. Coincidentally, Bush won by an incredibly close margin in an election where there was no incumbent.

"It's a stretch to make any comparison of the two elections," said Steve Edwards, a PR director for LexisNexis. "In 2004, we have an incumbent president whose name has been associated with many searches not related to the election. Therefore, the playing field is not level. But, in 2000, there was no incumbent so Al Gore and George W. Bush had the same likelihood of being the topic of a LexisNexis search. So, it's safe to say that the person whose name was searched the most during that time frame in 2000 by journalists ultimately became the president of the United States."

After the names of their opponent, the top 10 searched words in association with each candidate are:

Off the beaten path, journalists searched the name of the president's brother, Jeb, and Florida in connection with George W. Bush 580 times. On the Kerry side, journalists appeared to be interested in his eating habits, searching 916 times each in connection with his name for words like snack, pasta, noodle, desert, cracker, bread, baked, and bagel.

Here are some words searched in connection with each candidate and the total number of times:

In the four years between the 2000 and 2004 election, the world has seen some significant changes. What was a hot topic in 2000 is, in some cases, barely an issue in the 2004 election. Likewise, new words like "terrorism" and "intelligence" emerged in 2004 as the new headline grabbers.

From July 1 to October 30, journalists searched the LexisNexis news and information database more than 2,300 times for the word tax (and taxpayer, taxes), in association with both candidates' names. Al Gore and tax was explored 1060 times, compared to 1322 times for GWB. And, Iraq was all but neglected during that election: 59 searches with GWB and 69 searches with Gore. Terrorism was searched only 55 times during the 2000 time frame - five for Gore and 50 for GWB.

One offbeat search from 2000 that wasn't an issue in 2004 involved the quest for truth. The word "lies" was searched in 2000 in connection with Al Gore's name (26) more than of all the combined searches for George Bush in both elections (22) and John Kerry in 2004 (8).

The most prolific searches conducted by journalists seemed to fan the flame of public debates. That word - debate -- was paired with Gore 1482 times during the study period and another 1299 times with Bush.

"This study of the LexisNexis news and information database produces no scientific evidence that establishes a correlation between what journalists are searching and what drives election debate," Edwards said, "but it provides excellent anecdotal information regarding trends in searching the database and how those searches are turned into stories. The 2004 election has been dominated by headlines that include the words we've mentioned in the search strings."

About LexisNexis

LexisNexis^®(www.lexisnexis.com) is a leader in comprehensive and authoritative legal, news and business information and tailored applications. A member of Reed Elsevier Group plc [NYSE: ENL; NYSE: RUK] (www.reedelsevier.com ), the company does business in 100 countries with 13,000 employees worldwide. In addition to its flagship Web-based Lexis^® and Nexis^® research services, the company includes some of the world's most respected legal publishers such as Martindale-Hubbell, Matthew Bender, Butterworths, JurisClasseur, Abeledo-Perrot and Orac.