Iraq War, 2008 Election Media Coverage Lacking, Research Suggests
The Pew Research Center completes its Top Story Index (Link to Top Story Index) on a weekly basis to "compare and contrast - on an ongoing basis -- the news agenda of the media with the news agenda of the public." In its most recent comparison (for the week of June 11), the Pew Research Center found that while 33% of Americans followed the Iraq War closely, only 7% of the overall news coverage was devoted to this issue.
Because of differences in time periods measured, as well as differences in what is actually measured (percentage of media coverage versus percentage of people seeking media coverage) the site cautions that "while the two gauges are roughly comparable, they are not strictly equivalent." However, the overall media coverage of immigration and the Palestinian conflict exceeded that of the Iraq War during this period, even though the American interest in the Iraq War almost double that of any other story.
The American public also sought increased information on the 2008 presidential election, with 10% of Americans saying that this was the main story that they were following and 7% of media coverage actually given to the 2008 elections. A June Pew Research Center study shows that even when the media covers the presidential elections, Americans are somewhat dissatisfied with the coverage provided (Link to Political Divide in Views of Campaign Coverage). The report, titled "Political Divide in Views of Campaign Coverage," states that:
- 76% of Americans are seeking more information on candidates' positions
- 57% of Americans are seeking more information regarding the presidential debates
- 54% of Americans are seeking more information regarding the candidates' backgrounds
- 54% of Americans are seeking more information regarding "candidates who are not frontrunners"
A look at the previous month's Google News results reflects the disconnect between current media coverage and the information that Americans are seeking. In the previous month, 20,572 stories about Paris Hilton were sent to Google News. Of the presidential candidates, only Hillary Clinton had more stories written about her than Ms. Hilton, with Ms. Clinton's name appearing in 22,372 stories. Over the same period, Barack Obama's name appeared in 17,764 stories, Rudy Giuliani's name appeared in 12,789 stories, John McCain's name appeared in 12,576 stories, and Mitt Romney's name appeared in 12,458 stories. The combined number of stories about the remaining declared Republican candidates totaled less than the 20,000+ stories about Ms. Hilton. Ron Paul leads the rest of the Republican contenders with over 5,550 stories containing his name, Mike Huckabee's name appeared in 3,261 stories, and Sam Brownback, Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, Tommy Thompson, and Jim Gilmore each had less than 3,000 stories containing their name in the previous month.
Sources:
www.pewresearch.org
pewresearch.org/databank/newsindex/
people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=333
Published by C.M. Paulson
C.M. Paulson is a versatile writer and analyst with extensive business experience working for 2 Fortune 100 companies. View profile
- Who Will Win the 2008 Presidential Election? The 2008 Presidential Election is just 20-hours away on my watch this very
- Great Insight on Why John McCain Lost the 2008 Presidential Election Learn what John McCain did wrong! See why he lost the 2008 presidential election!
-
Three Most Surprising Highlights of the 2008 Presidential Election
This 2008 Presidential election has proven that some of America's "truths" are indeed, stranger than fiction...
- Youth Voters: Their Effect on the 2008 Presidential Election After years of increasing dissatisfaction with the Bush administration, voters aged 18 to 29 have dramatically increased their civic engagement: Since 2000, youth voter turnout has increased by more than 500%. How wil...
- Senator John Edwards and the 2008 Presidential Election A look at the 2008 presidential candidacy of Senator John Edwards.
- Hispanic Population Could Play Large Role in 2008 Presidential Election
- Who Should I Vote For? Obama or McCain in the 2008 Presidential Election?
- 2008 Presidential Election: Can This Survey Determine Who You Should Vote For?
- George Allen's Potential Candidacy for the 2008 Presidential Election
- 2008 Presidential Hopefuls: Senator Sam Brownback's Potential Candidacy for the 20...
- Vote for God in the 2008 Presidential Election
- The 2008 Presidential Election: An Overview of Potential Nominees
|
|
5 Comments
Post a Commenthi, well i ddnt nOe dere wasa a war bcOz here in the land of Oz they shOw usless things on the news instead Of things that relly matta. buht anywayss.
x
to Micah continued: Perhaps candidates do use Public Relations agencies. In the case of Senator Obama his website reflects the same views he held prior to throwing his hat in the ring; so I doubt that anyone is telling the man what "message" to put on his site. Do you think we can get Jacques Bourlerice elected, because he has not comprimised himself by raising millions? The ability to inspire people who have never contributed to a campaign or never voted before might be the mark of a leader that can inspire citizens to take community action rather than wait upon the government to it for them. The alternative is to vote for no one and have the same old type of corrupt government we have been getting for years.
Oops already read this one. To Micah: Granny D walked and skied into Washington DC to get campaign finance election reform. It does cost money to run a 30 second spot on a television station. It is sad that our tax dollars do not provide a forum for the candidates to speech~for free. Before Granny D started walking large contributors could "buy" favors. (ex Pres Bill Clinton is an example of this) Today the empahsis is large numbers of small contributors. What I meant about Senator Obama was he has a record breaking number of individual contributors, which made headlines all over the news, but not at AC.
One reason campaigning costs so much is the use of Public Relations agencies to determine a candidate's message, including what goes on their website. Rule of thumb: If a candidate can raise millions to even get in the game, then they've already been compromised in their duty to serve the public good.
Good piece.
Quite interesting. AC is "the people's media" and I notice the types of "breaking news stories" featured on the front page. It seems they favor manufactured stories about Paris and jail or the latest dirt on Britney to local news that are not readily available except from someone local. I also noticed that Ron Paul's fundraising made the front page, whereas Senator Obama, who's efforts were record breaking did not. I do not rely on the media, but visit candidates websites as my first source of info.