{"id":90279,"date":"2008-09-15T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2008-09-15T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2008\/09\/15\/candidate-sites-as-information-sources-2\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:16:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:16:23","slug":"candidate-sites-as-information-sources-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/09\/15\/candidate-sites-as-information-sources-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Candidate Sites as Information Sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

If part of the mission of the Web campaign is to offer your own message in place of or before the press corps, what information about the candidate, his background and policy stances do potential voters receive? <\/p>\n\n

To get a sense of the content the candidates put up on their sites, PEJ extended its 2007 audit of candidate biographies to include four other elements as well, including issue pages, links to mainstream news media reports, press releases and videos. <\/p>\n\n

Overall, we found that mainstream news plays only a supporting role to campaign-produced content. Press articles are mostly used to legitimize the candidates\u2019 policy positions, with negative or unrelated content removed. Instead, issue positions, speeches, videos\u2014especially campaign ads\u2014and biographies dominate. <\/p>\n\n

The \u2018Newsroom\u2019 <\/h4>\n\n

How are these sites defining, categorizing and presenting \u201cnews\u201d content?<\/p>\n\n

Both sites have broadened the \u201cnews\u201d category to include campaign-produced content, including press releases, blogs, speeches, videos, photo galleries and issue positions, with mainstream media articles often less prominent.<\/p>\n\n

Based on PEJ\u2019s August 2008 content analysis, the McCain news section (In the News) is far more likely than the Obama site to use its own press releases for news posts rather than media reports. About 40% of the news posts on the McCain site were their own press releases versus just 12% on the Obama news page. The McCain home page also links to other campaign-produced media, including a \u201cWeekly Radio Address\u201d (digital streaming audio), and \u201cPhotos of the Week\u201d taken mostly by campaign staff on the trail.<\/p>\n\n

In contrast, the Obama home page news section (Obama News) usually links directly to mainstream media news excerpts from the home page. However, the blog section of his Web site (Obama Blog) is given prominence over the news section on the home page. Altogether, blog content makes up almost two-thirds of all news content on the home page, with a regular \u201cMorning News\u201d post containing a handful of excerpted articles from the mainstream. <\/p>\n\n

Issues<\/h4>\n\n

The Issues sections of the Web sites are places where Obama and McCain promote their agendas directly. Obama gives positions on 23 separate issues, while McCain provides details on 17 issues. <\/p>\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n

If priorities for leadership can be gleaned from the number of words devoted to each subject, Obama and McCain have starkly different agendas. McCain generally devotes more space to foreign policy and defense. For Obama, families and urban policy trumps foreign policy. <\/p>\n\n

Each site offers some unique issue pages that appeal to their core constituencies. McCain, for his part, seeks to boost his conservative credentials with a G.O.P. membership that has been at times been critical of his campaign. In \u201cJudicial Philosophy\u201d McCain is critical of judges who \u201clegislate from the bench.\u201d And, targeting social issues, McCain has a section on \u201cSanctity of Life,\u201d which favors overturning Roe v. Wade and on \u201cSecond Amendment,\u201d affirming his support for the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms. <\/p>\n\n

Obama has an Issues section devoted to \u201cFaith,\u201d which calls for \u201ca deeper, more substantive discussion about the role of faith in American life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

[1]<\/p>\n\n\n

The Issues pages showed only a few changes from August to September. The Obama Web site dropped seven topics\u2014agriculture, arts, child advocacy, Katrina, science, sportsmen and transportation\u2014merging agriculture with a topic page on rural policy and eliminating the rest. The McCain site added sections on education and technology. <\/p>\n\n

\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n\n

Video <\/h4>\n\n

Both candidates use video content on their home pages. The McCain site regularly introduces Web and television ads on the main section of the home page, while Obama\u2019s branded channel \u201cBarackTV\u201d is a fixture on the right sidebar, and plays campaign ads, recent speeches and live streaming video from the campaign trail.<\/p>\n\n

While video content varies from day-to-day, the Obama Web site utilizes video more regularly in various sections of the site than does the McCain site. Videos from the mainstream media, campaign and third-party sources (mostly volunteers) are a staple of the Obama blog, whereas video on the McCain Web site is generally confined to the home page, the Multimedia section and is select issue pages. <\/p>\n\n

Spanish Translation<\/h4>\n\n

Both presidential candidates are in a pitched battle for Hispanic votes come November. Each candidate has a Spanish language version of his Web site, targeting Spanish-speaking eligible voters. So how do these Web sites compare with their English language counterparts?<\/p>\n\n

On McCain\u2019s Spanish language Web site, the content is limited to the home page, biographies and synopses of issue positions. If a Spanish speaker wants to read more about an issue, he or she is directed to the full issues page on the English language site.<\/p>\n\n

Obama\u2019s translated site is similarly sparse on issue positions, offering shorter summaries of the issue pieces than on the English language site. Both versions of Obama\u2019s Web site host a page devoted to Latinos (People). The coalition page provides a summary of Obama\u2019s positions on \u201cHispanic issues\u201d in Spanish and a \u201cLatino Blueprint for Change\u201d in English.<\/p>\n\n

One key substantive difference is the McCain campaign\u2019s treatment of immigration as an issue on Spanish language Web site. Border security is the main focus of McCain\u2019s summary position on both the English and Spanish pages, but the Spanish version is augmented by text that promotes the U.S. as a \u201cgleaming city on the hill\u201d and vows McCain will implement solutions that \u201ccombine compassion with the necessities of our economy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

\n\n

FOOTNOTE:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

<\/a>1. <\/strong>The Decision Center. ( http:\/\/www.johnmccain.com\/decisioncenter\/<\/a>) Retrieved August 13, 2008. <\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If part of the mission of the Web campaign is to offer your own message in place of or before the press corps, what information about the candidate, his background and policy stances do potential voters receive? 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