Keywords: News, media, journalism and public opinion

The 2016 electoral decisions in Britain and United States surprised global audiences and revealed unexpectedly strong undercurrents of public opinion in both countries. This content analysis examines similarities and differences in major political issues found in leading international news media during the 2016 Brexit and U.S. Presidential campaigns. These findings are useful in understanding media agenda building and the possible media influences (from traditional and social media) shaping public opinion in these elections. Using exit polling information, the paper examines the summer-fall 2016 period of intense national and international media coverage of key issues and topics revealing possible sentiments and compelling arguments (Rim, Hong & Kiousis, 2014) covered on-line and in leading international media. The study builds on a related study of the 2016 U.S. election which found significant differences between the amount of issue and candidate information coverage. This research expands on this study as it specifically examines how coverage of other candidate issues fared in light of major campaign issues including security and the global economy. Key research questions driving this study were:
1. What were the most prominent issue information categories (from public opinion polls) covered by leading international media during these elections?
2. How did coverage of security and economic issues compare to coverage of other categories of issue information in these two campaigns?
3. What were the key differences and similarities in issue coverage between these two elections among the media during the course of the campaigns?
The timeframe of this study begins in spring 2016, as issues in both political campaigns began to dominate news cycles. It ends with the dates of the elections in both the U.S. and Britain. Results reveal key differences and similarities in issue coverage between these two elections. The results specifically reveal the dominance of candidate information compared with issue information in the U.S. campaign, contrasting these findings with coverage of the Brexit coverage by U.K. news sources. The results of this study contribute to our understanding of how public opinion may have been influenced by leading international media in these two elections.