{"id":90435,"date":"2008-05-19T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2008-05-19T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2008\/05\/19\/pej-campaign-coverage-index-may-12-18-2008\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:12:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:12:29","slug":"pej-campaign-coverage-index-may-12-18-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/19\/pej-campaign-coverage-index-may-12-18-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"Clinton Wins W. Virginia, Obama Wins the Headlines"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man who had trouble getting the media <\/p>\n\n

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

to pay attention to his presidential bid finally generated a lot of headlines last week. When he showed up to endorse Barack Obama at a Michigan rally on May 14, John Edwards not only made news, he helped change the story line. <\/p>\n\n

The splash was substantial. After backing his former rival for the Democratic nomination, by week\u2019s end Edwards was a dominant or significant figure in 10% of the campaign coverage, according to PEJ\u2019s Campaign Coverage Index for May 12-18. That is more coverage than the former Senator managed to attract in three of the four weeks in January when he was still a candidate\u2014and more than he got the week he dropped out. <\/p>\n\n

And in embracing Obama less than 24 hours after Clinton\u2019s big win in West Virginia, Edwards diverted media attention away from a discussion of renewed Clinton momentum and helped refocused the narrative on Obama\u2019s apparent inevitability. <\/p>\n\n

In doing so, Edwards also helped Obama win the race for exposure last week. Overall, Obama was a significant or dominant newsmaker in 68% of the campaign coverage, well ahead of Clinton, who finished at 53%. And their coverage was very different. Despite her 41-point win in West Virginia, her narrative included considerable speculation about how long she would stay in the race and whether she might end up as Obama\u2019s vice president. <\/p>\n\n

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

Despite a West Virginia trouncing that might have deepened questions about Obama\u2019s appeal to working-class whites, his narrative last week continued a theme that had emerged the previous week. Obama was depicted as shifting away from a primary contest toward a general election strategy. Not only was that story line reinforced by Edwards\u2019 endorsement, it was bolstered by President Bush\u2019s May 15 remarks in Israel criticizing \u201cappeasement\u201d that Obama saw as a direct attack. Obama responded with sharp criticism of Bush and McCain that seemed to offer a preview of the general election fight. For his role in that foreign policy dustup, the President registered at 12% in last week\u2019s campaign coverage, his largest role in any week\u2019s campaign narrative since PEJ began tracking that role. <\/p>\n\n

If one were to combine the top four story lines in last week\u2019s campaign coverage\u2014the appeasement furor (21% of all the campaign stories), the Edwards endorsement (10%), calls for Clinton to drop out (6%) and speculation about Obama\u2019s vice-president (2%)\u2014that\u2019s almost 40% of the coverage reinforcing the idea that the Democratic primary race was over. <\/p>\n\n

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

On the Republican side, McCain, who was caught in the Bush-Obama crossfire, was a significant or dominant factor in 27% of the coverage last week, far behind the Democrats. Nonetheless, that was still his highest level of press attention since April 7-13. Part of it came from a speech anticipating the end of his first term in which the GOP candidate predicted victory in Iraq, the killing or capture of Osama bin Laden and economic growth at home. <\/p>\n\n

Meanwhile, another Republican (or former Republican) got some coverage last week. Bob Barr, the former GOP Congressman from Georgia, announced his presidential candidacy on the Libertarian ticket. That triggered some speculation about whether he could siphon some support from McCain. So far, the early signs are not that promising. Barr registered at 2% in the coverage, a sign perhaps that the media does not expect him to have much impact. <\/p>\n\n

In all, the presidential campaign accounted for 37% of the overall newshole, according to PEJ\u2019s News Coverage Index for the period of May 12-18. Despite a number of significant breaking events, including the devastating earthquake in China and the continuing destruction from the Myanmar cyclone, the race for the White House consumed 74% of the airtime studied on the cable news networks last week, fully twice as much as in the media generally. The next-biggest story, the disaster in China, filled only 4% of the cable newshole even as it proved to be the No. 1 story (at 21%) on network television broadcast news. <\/p>\n\n

The Campaign Coverage index 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

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

The week began with the media signaling that the long Democratic primary fight was finally giving way to a general election contest between Obama and McCain. \u201cObama and Clinton are no longer fighting the same fight,\u201d declared MSNBC host David Gregory on May 12. To prove the point, MSNBC aired footage of Hillary Clinton declaring West Virginia a crucial Democratic battleground while Obama delivered a speech about veterans and patriotism and had \u201chis eye on the general election.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

And Clinton\u2019s whopping West Virginia win over Obama did not play out in the press the way her campaign had hoped. A May 14 AP story carried on Yahoo News! said the result did \u201cexpose in stark terms his disadvantage with blue-collar voters, fueling Clinton’s last-gasp argument to party VIPs that she’s the Democrat with broad appeal against Republican John McCain.\u201d But it also reported that right after the primary, \u201cObama picked up two more superdelegates, offering fresh recognition from Democratic leaders of his inevitable nomination.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

The next morning on NBC\u2019s Today show, it was the Edwards endorsement that obscured the West Virginia vote. \u201cJust as she was trying to get back on her feet, Hillary Clinton had the rug pulled out from under her,\u201d reported correspondent Andrea Mitchell. She noted that the move not only raised the possibility of Obama collecting Edwards\u2019 delegates and improving his standing among blue-collar voters, it also succeeded in diluting the impact of a series of TV interviews that Clinton had granted. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cThis,\u201d Mitchell intoned, \u201cis the moment Hillary Clinton had hoped would not happen.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

By the end of the week, the story was not Obama versus Clinton, but instead Obama versus Bush and McCain. The May 16 CBS evening newscast led with a report from correspondent Dean Reynolds that Obama had delivered \u201cone of the most pugnacious speeches\u201d in his career in response to Bush\u2019s statement criticizing \u201cappeasement\u201d of terrorists and radicals. The CBS account featured excerpts from Obama\u2019s speech in which he said that \u201cboth Bush and McCain represent the failed foreign policy and fear-mongering of the past.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

In introducing that segment, anchor Katie Couric told viewers, \u201cIt is only May in this campaign, but it\u2019s beginning to feel like October.\u201d For an Obama campaign intent on sending a strong message that the primary fight is over, that media narrative is music to their ears. <\/p>\n\n

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

For the second week in a row, a deadly natural disaster was the second-biggest story of the week, behind the campaign for the White House. The Chinese earthquake, that to date has reportedly killed more than 30,000 people, accounted for 13% of the coverage for the week of May 12-18, as measured by PEJ\u2019s News Coverage Index. The Myanmar cyclone, which generated 15% of the previous week\u2019s coverage, fell to 4% last week, but was still the No. 3 story. Coverage of same-sex marriage, sparked by a California Supreme Court ruling allowing those unions, was next at 3%. That was followed by concerns over the rising price of gas and oil, also at 3%. <\/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\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
Barack Obama (D)
<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n		51.2%<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n16.3% <\/span><\/span><\/td>\n67.5%<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hillary Clinton (D)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n40.5 <\/span><\/span><\/td>\n12.6<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n53.1<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
John McCain (R)
<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n		16.1 <\/span><\/span><\/td>\n11.2<\/span><\/span> <\/td>\n27.3 <\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
George Bush
<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n		8.5<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n3.1<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n11.6<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
John Edwards <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n9.0<\/span><\/span> <\/td>\n1.4<\/span><\/span> <\/td>\n10.4 <\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bob Barr
<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n		1.9<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n0<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n1.9<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mike Huckabee <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n0.5<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n1.2<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n1.7<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ron Paul (R)
<\/span><\/td>\n		0.2<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n0<\/span><\/td>\n0.2<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total Number of Campaign Stories = 422
<\/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

37% <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

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

\n

Chinese Earthquake <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

13<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

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

\n

Myanmar Cyclone <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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

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

\n

Same-sex Marriage Debate <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

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

\n

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

3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

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

\n

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

3 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

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

\n

Storms in OK, MO <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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

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

\n

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

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

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

\n

Mississippi House Race <\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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

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

\n

Bush’s Trip to the Middle East <\/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":"

Despite a big Hillary Clinton win in the West Virginia primary, John Edwards and George Bush helped make Barack Obama the lead campaign newsmaker last week. And they helped reinforce the idea that the Democratic primary fight was just about over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"PEJ Campaign Coverage Index May 12 - 18, 2008","sub_title":"PEJ Campaign Coverage Index May 12 - 18, 2008","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_api_pending":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_hidden":false,"relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"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],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-90435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-presidents-press","formats-report","research-teams-journalism"],"label":false,"post_parent":0,"word_count":1405,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/05\/19\/pej-campaign-coverage-index-may-12-18-2008\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"report_materials":"","report_pagination":{"current_post":null,"next_post":null,"previous_post":null,"pagination_items":[]},"parent_info":{"parent_title":"Clinton Wins W. Virginia, Obama Wins the Headlines","parent_id":90435},"materialsOrdered":[],"chaptersOrdered":[],"partsOrdered":[],"partsEnabled":false,"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Clinton Wins W. Virginia, Obama Wins the Headlines","description":"Despite a big Hillary Clinton win in the West Virginia primary, John Edwards and George Bush helped make Barack Obama the lead campaign newsmaker last week. And they helped reinforce the idea that the Democratic primary fight was just about over.","og_title":"Clinton Wins W. Virginia, Obama Wins the Headlines","og_description":"Despite a big Hillary Clinton win in the West Virginia primary, John Edwards and George Bush helped make Barack Obama the lead campaign newsmaker last week. And they helped reinforce the idea that the Democratic primary fight was just about over.","schema_type":"Article","noindex":false,"canonical_url":"","primary_terms":[],"custom_schema":[],"og_image":0,"indexnow_submitted_at":null,"gsc_index_status":null},"prepublish_checks":{"prc-image-alt-text":{"status":"incomplete","message":"1 image is missing alt text.","data":{"count":1}},"prc-about-this-research":{"status":"incomplete","message":"Add an \"About this research\" details block.","data":null},"prc-paragraph-count":{"status":"complete","message":"Found 24 paragraphs.","data":{"count":24}},"prc-internal-link":{"status":"complete","message":"Found 6 internal links.","data":{"count":6}}},"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\/90435","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=90435"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130447,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90435\/revisions\/130447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90435"},{"taxonomy":"bylines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bylines?post=90435"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=90435"},{"taxonomy":"datasets","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/datasets?post=90435"},{"taxonomy":"level_of_effort","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/level_of_effort?post=90435"},{"taxonomy":"primary_audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primary_audience?post=90435"},{"taxonomy":"information_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/information_type?post=90435"},{"taxonomy":"_post_visibility","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_post_visibility?post=90435"},{"taxonomy":"formats","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/formats?post=90435"},{"taxonomy":"_fund_pool","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_fund_pool?post=90435"},{"taxonomy":"languages","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/languages?post=90435"},{"taxonomy":"regions-countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions-countries?post=90435"},{"taxonomy":"research-teams","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-teams?post=90435"},{"taxonomy":"workflow-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/workflow-status?post=90435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}