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Study: Media Focused On Tactics Not Issues
The news media are more obsessed than ever with the horse-race aspects of the presidential campaign, according to a new study.
Despite the campaign's early start, the media have not been more reflective on the issues, the study said, but have focused on tactics and strategy.
The report - available at www.journalism.org - was conducted jointly by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, part of the Pew Research Center, and the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School at Harvard.
It examined 1,742 stories that appeared from January through May in 48 news outlets.
The study also found that during that period, the media provided much more positive coverage of the Democratic presidential candidates than of the Republicans.
The study attributed that to overwhelmingly favorable coverage of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and overwhelmingly negative coverage of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Other highlights:
-- Almost two-thirds of all stories (print, television, radio and online) focused on the political aspects of the campaign, while only 1 percent focused on the candidates' public records.
-- Only 12 percent of stories seemed relevant to voters' decision-making; the rest were more about tactics and strategy.
-- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., received the most coverage, but Obama received the most positive coverage (47 percent of stories about Obama were positive, compared with 27 percent for Clinton). Just 12 percent of stories about McCain were positive.
-- Elizabeth Edwards, wife of John Edwards, a Democrat, received more attention than 10 of the 19 candidates then in the race and nearly as much as her husband.
The campaign coverage has been sharply at odds with what the public says it wants, the study found, with voters eager to know more about the candidates' positions on issues and their personal backgrounds, more about lesser-known candidates and more about debates.
But the media is even more obsessed this time around with questions of tactics and strategy, despite what the study described as a "generational struggle" in both parties. Horse-race stories accounted for 63 percent of reports this year compared with what the study said was about 55 percent in 2000 and 2004.
"If American politics is changing," the study concluded, "the style and approach of the American press does not appear to be changing with it."
© 2007 The New York Times
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6 Comments so far
Show AllAs would be expected. The corporate-owned mass media is going to "American Idol" the campaign, and certainly will not provide fair-and-balanced information about the candidates. Everyone on this forum knows this, because we search for the truth through alternative means. Unfortunately, the masses switch-on the local news broadcast every night, watch and listen to slanted "news stories" and sound-bites, and conclude that the nation's state-of-affairs is in trusting hands. Then, they go cast their ballot and, invariably, vote against their own self-interests.
It's frustrating to see our country slide farther and farther toward corporatism and fascist-like governance.
I would like to know where all these positive stories about the Democrats are found. Most of what I see, hear, or read are cynical and hostile. Whatever. Part of the problem is that the media has fostered a campaign more than a year before the election. It's absurd at best, stupid at the most. Now the media can began toasting the democrats even more on the basis of the poll, and ramp up their celebration of the right wing.
Let's see now... the stats show that the candidate who spends the most money wins over 90% of the time. What do you suppose they're spending the money on? Could it be...
CORPORATE MEDIA ADVERTISING??
And what do you suppose the media as an industry finds most interesting and important about any candidate? Could it be...
FUND-RAISING????
And where do the candidates get money to advertise? Yes, indeedy, a majority of campaign funds come from Corporations, corporate leadership, and trade groups like PHARMa.
So, who chooses our government?
You got it, kids!!
CORPORATIONS.
Bonus Question: What do we call a government that meshes the corporation and the state?
Thank you, Benito, that's correct...
FASCISM.
Vote Kucinich, and tell your friends to do the same. At least you'll be able to tell your kids you were part of the Resistance.
Finally, someone noticed. I have been offended for years at what passes for news coverage of anything political in this country. No one discusses the pros and cons of an issue. There is rarely any in-depth analysis. It's simply calling the "plays" as they are run by one side or the other. It's all about who "wins" and never about what's right -- or even about what it means.
After the election the media will be surprised that the purchased candidates act on their owner's agenda.
You've got to put at least part of the blame on the candidates themselves. They, too, are only interested in the horse race aspect of the campaign. Few will say anything that's controversial, unsafe or that hasn't been focus-grouped to death. Few will give direct answers to interviewers' questions. None will ever put themselves into a situation where they will be subjected to aggressive questioning. Call it a conspiracy to create Pablum.