Cycles of Spin

Patrick Sellers is currently a Professor of Political Science at Davidson College. He has also taught at Rice University and Indiana University and worked in the U.S. House and Senate in Washington, DC. He is coauthor (with Brian Schaffner) of the forthcoming book Winning with Words: The Origins and Impact of Framing. His research has appeared in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Political Communication, and other leading journals.

• 1. The cycle; 2. Building blocks; 3. Creation; 4. Promotion; 5. Coverage and feedback; 6. Completing the cycle.

'Cycles of Spin is the most theoretically nuanced and empirically rich study of Congressional communication strategies I have ever encountered. Sellers' ability to trace how message strategies are developed and rolled out by Congressional leaders, and then to follow the impact of those strategies on news coverage and the subsequent debate in Congress, opens the inner circles of spin for all to see. The unprecedented scope and variety of data gathered for this study are matched with an original theoretical framework that considers both the collective action problems faced by party leaders and the news norms that shape media reporting of policy debates. Sellers' book is essential reading for understanding how Congress works in the age of the continuous news cycle. I will be assigning it to undergraduate and graduate students alike.' Scott Althaus, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign