For the Media, it’s the Elections, Stupid
The midterms were a quarter of the newshole last week, and have been the third most covered story of the year, behind only the economy and the Gulf oil spill.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
The midterms were a quarter of the newshole last week, and have been the third most covered story of the year, behind only the economy and the Gulf oil spill.
With desperate automakers asking Congress for $34 billion, Barack Obama unveiling key Cabinet members, and the U.S. scrambling to ease tensions between India and Pakistan, the three top storylines in the news intertwined last week.
A bloody new chapter in the Israel/Palestinian conflict dramatically shifted the news agenda from domestic to foreign crises, dominating media attention in an otherwise crowded week of news.
When the campaign was finally over, the media almost immediately viewed Barack Obama’s victory as a transformational event, and a subject that had been in some ways taboo moved front and center – race.
The country’s weakened economy rivaled the presidential transition as top story of the week while much coverage focused on two women who ran losing campaigns for the executive branch.
Although no other media stories came close to rivaling the economy’s troubles and the emerging face of the incoming administration, one other story drew sensational coverage: piracy on the high seas.
From Jefferson to Palin, politicians of the left and right have blamed the media for public discontent with their policies, politics or personal behavior.
As 2008 draws to a close, last week’s media’s attention was divided more than at any point this year. The economy and Barack Obama’s transition were still among the top stories. But scandals involving the Illinois Governor and a world-famous financial figure, along with the continuing struggles of the U.S. auto industry, also competed for coverage.
While Obama’s primary win gave him the edge in quantity of coverage, Clinton was the driving force in a media narrative that focused largely on what she would do next.
A Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism roundtable brings together a panel of cable news industry leaders. Some predict the medium will adapt to the changing news consumer while others believe dramatic innovations are necessary.
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