{"id":90417,"date":"2008-03-10T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2008-03-10T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2008\/03\/10\/pej-campaign-coverage-index-march-3-9-2008\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:12:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:12:28","slug":"pej-campaign-coverage-index-march-3-9-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/03\/10\/pej-campaign-coverage-index-march-3-9-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Admire Clinton\u2019s Resilience, Question Obama\u2019s Toughness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back on Oct. 30, 2007, in a story about that <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

night\u2019s Democratic debate, NBC anchor Brian Williams raised what he saw <\/span>as <\/span>a crucial issue in that primary battle. Barack Obama had vowed \u201cto be tougher in the campaign against frontrunner Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton?\u201d Could he make good? <\/p>\n\n

Fast forward to last week, March 6, 2008\u2014two days after Clinton\u2019s sharp attacks on Obama helped produce campaign-saving wins in Texas and Ohio. Pundit David Gergen broached the same point about Obama, suggesting the answer was still out, on Anderson Cooper\u2019s CNN show. Said Gergen: \u201cHe\u2019s got to be a lot tougher and more aggressive\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n\n

Clinton turned back the clock on the media narrative for the Democrats last week. For several weeks running, the press had cast Obama as a clear frontrunner, one perhaps on the verge of finishing off his rival. Almost instantly after Texas and Ohio, that narrative returned to where it was through the decidedly mixed Feb. 5 Super Tuesday results\u2014speculating about a hopelessly deadlocked contest decided by superdelegates. <\/p>\n\n

And embedded in that in the media coverage last week was a months-old question: Was Obama \u201ctough\u201d enough to win a nomination fight with a determined foe. In many ways, even in a strong week for Clinton, the narrative turned on questions about Obama. <\/p>\n\n

As a significant or dominant newsmaker in 60% of campaign stories, Clinton narrowly won the competition for media exposure from March 3-9, a period that began a day before the Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island primaries and ended a day after the Wyoming caucus. For Clinton\u2014credited with engineering another comeback in this roller coaster race by aggressively attacking Obama\u2014that was her highest level of 2008 coverage. At 58%, Obama dropped 11 points from the previous week. And in a difficult stretch of coverage, he found himself facing questions about the need to make strategic and tactical changes in his campaign. <\/p>\n\n

In the week that the GOP race was formally decided, the Democrats dominated coverage over the Republicans by the lopsided margin of about four-to-one (70% to 18%), a margin similar to the week before. <\/p>\n\n

On the Republican side, presumptive nominee John McCain, may be settling into a temporary coverage trough as journalists focus on the Democrats. Last week, McCain\u2014who officially went over the top in delegates\u2014was a significant or dominant factor in 26% of the stories, which closely compares to 28% the week before. With his nomination assured and the Democrats still locked in mortal combat, McCain may have been, as MSNBC\u2019s Chris Matthews called him, \u201cthe biggest winner\u201d on March 4. (President Bush, who welcomed McCain to the White House last week, showed up in 4% of the campaign coverage.) <\/p>\n\n

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

As for Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who arguably did far better in this race than many journalists had predicted, his last week in the campaign did not generate much attention. He was a significant or dominant factor in just 4% of the coverage, up from 2% the week before. (And Ron Paul, whose followers made his lack of coverage a major campaign issue, managed to generate only 1%, as he also announced the \u201cwinding down\u201d of his campaign last week.) <\/p>\n\n

Speaking of not making news, in what was arguably his wife\u2019s most important campaign week, Bill Clinton (at a mere 1%) continued to be conspicuously MIA in the media. <\/p>\n\n

The Campaign Coverage index, which will appear weekly until nominees are selected in each party, is an addition to PEJ\u2019s NCI report, which tracks what stories the media covered in the previous week. The CCI offers a greater level of detail of the campaign coverage. That includes the percentage of stories in which a candidate played a significant role (as a subject of between 25% and 50% of the story) or a main newsmaker role (making up at least 50% of the story). The Index also identifies the key narratives in the reporting and the \u201cLine of the Week,\u201d a statement from a journalist or source that in our researchers\u2019 estimation seems either to capture the story or is particularly colorful. PEJ\u2019s News Coverage Index will not disappear. It will come at the bottom of the CCI. <\/p>\n\n

The campaign had one of its more dominant weeks in the press in 2008. Despite a crowded news menu that included renewed Mideast violence, a new Russian president, and a torrent of bad economic news, it filled 52% of the newshole for March 3-9, according to the PEJ\u2019s News Coverage Index, an increase of nearly 40% from the previous week\u2019s total. In cable, a whopping 77% of the airtime studied last week was devoted to the race for the White House. <\/p>\n\n

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

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

The verdict on her victories in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island was swift, given how close to political death she was considered only a week earlier. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cGoing negative proved positive in comeback,\u201d The Los Angeles Times headline read the next day. Clinton\u2019s \u201cnew voice was angrier, sharper and far more negative toward Obama,\u201d declared the story, which also cited her controversial \u201c3 a.m.\u201d ad questioning Obama\u2019s crisis credentials. <\/p>\n\n

A March 6 report on the Fox News Channel also emphasized the experience theme. Clinton held a \u201ccabinet-style meeting\u201d with military brass, the story noted, and stressed her view \u201cthat she is best prepared to be the next commander-in-chief.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

Pundits seemed to be split over which candidate now had the edge going forward. \u201cWhat matters now more?\u201d asked Chris Matthews on MSNBC March 5. \u201cHillary\u2019s Tuesday night momentum or Obama\u2019s\u2026delegate edge?\u201d One point was beyond debate, Matthews declared: Clinton\u2019s big wins \u201chave guaranteed that the Democratic race will go on and on and on and on and on and on.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

In the run up to the March 4 contests, the media story line already had Obama on the defensive. \u201cBarack Obama under a barrage of questions and political attacks\u201d declared CNN\u2019s Wolf Blitzer on March 3. <\/p>\n\n

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

With two weeks between primaries, the press also had more time than before to dig into some of the accusations between the candidates. By the eve of the March 4 contests, journalists were focused intently on the Illinois Senator\u2019s ties to Chicago businessman Tony Rezko, who went on trial March 3. The media also homed in on a controversy over whether an Obama advisor had assured a Canadian official that the candidate\u2019s hard line on NAFTA was largely for political consumption. <\/p>\n\n

After the results were in, as a March 5 NBC Nightly News report noted, Obama pointed a finger of blame at the media, telling reporters on his plane that Clinton\u2019s \u201ccomplaining about the refs apparently worked a little bit this week.\u201d But while Obama was criticizing the media, David Gergen was reprising an old, nagging doubt about the candidate and the t-word\u2014toughness. <\/p>\n\n

[Obama\u2019s]<\/p>\n\n\n

Some of that aggression seemed to backfire when Obama\u2019s foreign policy advisor Samantha Power resigned on March 7 after calling Clinton a \u201cmonster\u201d in a newspaper interview. To cap off a rough week in the media, Obama\u2019s March 8 caucus victory in Wyoming generated minimal bounce. The lead paragraph of the March 9 Washington Post front-page campaign story reported that Clinton\u2019s March 4 wins \u201cappears to have convinced a sizable number of uncommitted Democratic superdelegates to wait until the end of the primaries and caucuses before picking a candidate,\u201d a development that would stanch the recent flow of delegates to Obama. <\/p>\n\n

Conversely, Obama\u2019s 23-point win in Wyoming was relegated to the fourth paragraph of the story. <\/p>\n\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

And now, in the rest of the week\u2019s news: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week\u2019s campaign coverage overshadowed a number of stories with potentially far-reaching implications. The second-biggest story, according to the News Coverage Index for March 3-9, was the U.S. economy. But it registered at only 7% in a week when home foreclosures broke new records, and when it was announced that the country suffered 63,000 lost jobs in February. Next came Israeli-Palestinian tensions (4%), at a time when Gaza fighting left more than 100 Palestinians dead and an attack on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem claimed eight lives. The small blast at a Manhattan military recruiting station was next at 2%, followed by the ascension of Dmitri Medvedev\u2014Vladimir Putin\u2019s handpicked successor as Russian President\u2014also at 2%. <\/p>\n\n

Mark Jurkowitz of PEJ<\/em> <\/p>\n\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n

Media Exposure by Candidate<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

<\/p><\/td>\n

Main Newsmaker <\/span><\/span><\/td>\nSignificant Presence <\/span><\/span><\/td>\nTotal Percent of Campaign Stories <\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hillary Clinton (D)
<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n		42.5%<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n17.4% <\/span><\/span><\/td>\n59.9%<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Barack Obama (D)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n38.5 <\/span><\/span><\/td>\n19.1<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n57.6<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
John McCain (R)
<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n		18.6 <\/span><\/span><\/td>\n7.0<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n25.6 <\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
George Bush<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/td>\n3.3<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n0.9<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n4.2<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mike Huckabee (R)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/td>\n2.0 <\/span><\/span><\/td>\n1.9<\/span><\/span> <\/td>\n3.9 <\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bill Clinton <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/td>\n0.9<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n0.6<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n1.5<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ron Paul (R) <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n1.1<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n0<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n1.1<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total Number of Campaign Stories = 543<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n

Top Overall Stories of the Week<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Rank <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Story <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Percent of Newshole <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

1 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

2008 Campaign <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

52% <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

2 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

U.S. Economy <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

7 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

3 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Israeli\/Palestinian Conflict <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

4 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

4 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Times Square Blast <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

2 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

5 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Russia <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

2 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

6 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Iran <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

2 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

7 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

South America Tensions <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

1 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

8 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Gas\/Oil Prices <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

1 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

9 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

UNC Student Killed <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

1 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

10 <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

U.S. Domestic Terrorism <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

1 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Click here<\/a> to see the top ten stories for each media sector. <\/a> <\/p>\n\n

Click here<\/a> to see the methodology for the Campaign Coverage Index <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With wins in Ohio and Texas, Hillary Clinton was the top campaign newsmaker last week. The media’s first verdict was that her aggressive attacks succeeded in stopping Barack Obama’s momentum. Their next question was whether Obama was capable of responding in kind. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","sub_headline":"PEJ Campaign Coverage Index March 3 - 9, 2008","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","bylines":[],"acknowledgements":[],"displayBylines":true,"relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[340],"tags":[],"bylines":[],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[],"research-teams":[527],"class_list":["post-90417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-presidents-press","formats-report","research-teams-journalism"],"label":false,"post_parent":0,"word_count":1460,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/03\/10\/pej-campaign-coverage-index-march-3-9-2008\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"table_of_contents":[],"report_materials":"","report_pagination":{"current_post":null,"next_post":null,"previous_post":null,"pagination_items":[]},"parent_info":{"parent_title":"Media Admire Clinton\u2019s Resilience, Question Obama\u2019s Toughness","parent_id":90417},"materialsOrdered":[],"chaptersOrdered":[],"partsOrdered":[],"partsEnabled":false,"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Media Admire Clinton\u2019s Resilience, Question Obama\u2019s Toughness","description":"

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With wins in Ohio and Texas, Hillary Clinton was the top campaign newsmaker last week. The media’s first verdict was that her aggressive attacks succeeded in stopping Barack Obama’s momentum. Their next question was whether Obama was capable of responding in kind. <\/p>","schema_type":"Article","noindex":false,"canonical_url":"","primary_terms":[],"custom_schema":[],"og_image":0,"indexnow_submitted_at":null,"gsc_index_status":null},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"relatedPostsOrdered":[],"bylinesOrdered":[],"acknowledgementsOrdered":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130480,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90417\/revisions\/130480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90417"},{"taxonomy":"bylines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bylines?post=90417"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=90417"},{"taxonomy":"datasets","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/datasets?post=90417"},{"taxonomy":"level_of_effort","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/level_of_effort?post=90417"},{"taxonomy":"primary_audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primary_audience?post=90417"},{"taxonomy":"information_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/information_type?post=90417"},{"taxonomy":"_post_visibility","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_post_visibility?post=90417"},{"taxonomy":"formats","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/formats?post=90417"},{"taxonomy":"_fund_pool","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_fund_pool?post=90417"},{"taxonomy":"languages","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/languages?post=90417"},{"taxonomy":"regions-countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions-countries?post=90417"},{"taxonomy":"research-teams","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-teams?post=90417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}