New study shows: Media bias -- against Obama?

[jefferson_dem]

New study shows: Media bias -- against Obama?
by GregMitch
Tue Mar 04, 2008 at 08:55:49 AM PST

Yes, the Clinton campaign's "working the refs" seems to have worked. The much-respected Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ), which has been charting mainsteam campaign coverage every week, is out with its latest today, and it finds that, indeed, Obama did get more attention that Hillary in the past week -- but much of it negative.

Almost 70% of stories focused on Obama, compared with 58% related to Clinton. But the Obama coverage was more critical and in-depth, the survey revealed, stating: "The media scrutinized everything from his legislative record to his connections to Louis Farrakhan, and frequently addressed the question of whether journalists have been too soft on the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination."

The review also stated, "Hillary Clinton’s complaints about a pro-Barack Obama media tilt helped prompt examinations of Obama’s record and catapulted him to a first-place finish in the competition for media exposure."

We received the study -- which is titled, "Press Takes a Harder Look at Obama -- and Itself" this morning at Editor & Publisher (where I serve as editor).

The survey, which tallied stories between Feb. 25 and March 2, reviewed coverage from 48 media outlets, including 13 newspapers ranging from the likes of The Washington Post to the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free Press. Other details from the survey:

"Two converging factors may have contributed to the tenor of Obama coverage last week—the Clinton campaign’s increasing complaints about media bias and journalists’ sense that with Obama now a clear frontrunner, the time was right for a more thorough scrubbing," the report stated.

"It is also possible, as well, that the narrative about a faltering Clinton campaign had become familiar."

Then there was this revealing finding: "When the media weren’t vetting Obama’s record, they were questioning their own treatment of him."

Elsewhere, "Next to the campaign, the U.S. economy—staggering under more negative indicators, and stock market plunges—was the second-biggest story last week, filling 7% of the newshole as measured by the News Coverage Index ," the report said.

"That was followed by the conflict in Afghanistan (3%), where the news that England’s Prince Harry had been stationed there was the driving factor. Next came events inside Iraq (3%) and the Academy Award ceremonies, also at 3%."


<SNIP>

You can find PEJ study at: http://www.journalism.org

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/4/114715/4802/287/468568

[Omega3]

1. about fucking time!!!! now you know how we have felt. I don't, however, believe the MSM meme about

the coverage now being differnet b/c he's the 'frontrunner', he's been ahead in the delagate count for awhile now and the media have just begun to tell the whole story.

[surfermaw]

2. That is funny , if anyone should complain, it should be John Reid Edwards

[Jane Austin]

5. Yes he should.

And he did!

The last few days, I've had a lot of sympathy for his position.

Obama has been invisible in the media, except for the anchors and their guests yakking about Rezko and Nafta.

Good God. What part of the Conservative Canadian government interfering in American politics don't they understand?

And when are they going to report on the Clinton campaign darkening Obama's face in their "Subcommittee" ad?

[skipos]

3. He has been ahead in the delegate count since Iowa, but you wouldn't know it

from how the media likes to tell us it is "close." Hillary could win every state from here on out by 10% and she still wouldn't lead in the pledged delegates. That isn't my definition of "close" but I guess it is the media's.

The media told us that Hillary was going to be our nominee for all of 2007. Then Iowa came along and the coronation didn't go according to plan.

[Jane Austin]

6. Yes, I'm really tired of hearing about

Hillary's middle name, her questionable religion and her association with student radicals.

[ClassWarrior]

12. .

[Jane Austin]

4. What I notice on MSNBC

is that nearly all the "Democratic Strategists" guest they have are HRC supporters, so as soon as the anchor (predictabley) repeats every HRC or RW talking point against Obama, the guest nods gravely and says it is, indeed, a problem for Obama.

That's when they're not asking their resident Republican and Righter-than-Republicans spokesjackals what their take on Obama is.

[Omega3]

7. funny b/c I see MSNBC completely for Obama and totally biased against HC,

[Jane Austin]

13. Anything specific?

n/t

[ClassWarrior]

20. .

[City Lights]

14. Reading your post, Hillary Rosen jumps out at me.

They have her on to debate against the GOPer and she ends up in agreement with her opponent. :mad: Gee thanks, Hillary.

I've zapped off numerous emails to MSNBC about her. They need to have an Obama supporter speak on his behalf against the Repubs. Leave HR to speak on behalf of HRC. And they absolutely need to identify HR as a Clinton supporter rather than a "Democratic Strategist." :eyes:

[ClassWarrior]

21. .

[NashVegas]

8. One Week Out of 12, The Press Finally Starts Doing Its Fucking Job?

Great.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

9. Took Long Enough. But It May Be Much Too Late For Them To Have Started Becoming A Bit More Fair.

They already helped catapult him to where he's at, and even if they are FINALLY doing their jobs a bit as it relates to him, it may very well be too late to undo the momentum they already gave him from the weeks and weeks of huge bias towards him prior.

[ProSense]

10. Democrats whining about the media need to get a grip. The MSM has never been a Democrat's friend.

The MSM is how a loser like Rudy Giuliani came to lead in the polls for so long. The MSM fooled no one. Voters kicked his corrupt butt out of the running!

Obama on the other hand is being embraced by voters in every state despite the media. The days of the MSM fooling people is over, and in part it's due to an excellent effort by the Obama campaign and Democrats to debunk their spin.

[rinsd]

24. "The MSM has never been a Democrat's friend."

Very much agreed.

[Joshua N]

11. Obama could never complain about this. He would be another paranoid black man who thinks "whitey" is

out to get him. Sigh.


*This comment has not been made to discredit the previous complaints of Hillary supporters. It is just meant to point out a frustrating dynamic about being black.*

On a side note, I'll throw this out there to get your opinions. I suspect that if BO had a round nose or fuller lips and rounder cheeks, was darker, etc. he would probably have had a tougher time; you know, like if he looked like Al. What do you think?

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. Exactly right

Given the structural disadvantages, his playing of the media has been pretty impressive, but as the OP points out, it only gets harder.

I think one of the key distinctions between Obama supporters and Clinton supporters is tied up in this question:

Clinton supporters feel that the media is inherently unfair, and there's not much you can do about it but complain.

Obama supporters think that the media is one obstacle in a larger strategic operation, and that it can be overcome with skillful manipulation.

Put another way, Clinton supporters feels like the media manipulates; Obama supporters believe it can be manipulated. I think this differences arises in part due to the more difficult structural environment for a black man. If he can get this far, he's clearly figured out a way to hack the obstacles.

[eilen]

15. I did my own little informal poll

I visited almost every news outlet website, MSNBC, CNN, NYT, Reuters, Drudge, BBC, etc. even the friggin Al Jazeera site and Hillary's picture is on top, above the fold, and they are flattering pics as well. The pics I did see of Obama, he is not smiling. Why wouldn't he be smiling? He just won the last 11 contests....

Hillary is getting lots of free advert with all her attack ads, innuendo, stumping for McCain. But, you would think she was the only person running.

And I'm convinced Sheila Jackson Lee lives at the MSNBC studios because she's been on there like 8 times today already.

I wonder if Obama will strike back. He has been extremely, pointedly chivalrous to her. She says "I'm a fighter" like that excuses her behavior, that is what very rude obnoxious jerks say "I tell it like it is".

I guess a civil primary campaign was too much to hope for. Hillary has mud on her boots.

[Vinca]

19. There's something on her boots, alright, but it's not mud. nt

[debatepro]

16. Even Rush is pro hillary media..

:kick:

[Dogmudgeon]

17. Why are there no hard numbers on it? Because it's the first week.

You need at minimum TWO weeks of data to even begin to do trend analysis.

So what they are saying is that the press is still putting the focus on Obama, but that it is giving him measurable scrutiny for the very first time.

The media got collectively busted. Obama is now going to have to earn his coronation.

--p!

[Johnny__Motown]

18. Not black enough, The black candidate, Kindergarten essay, teenage drug use etc etc etc

[rinsd]

23. Wow one week of bad coverage vs. hoe many for Hillary?

If the week of Feb. 18-24 began withBarack Obama cementing his frontrunner status with the media in the Democratic primary fight, it ended with the New York Times coming perilously close to writing Hillary Clinton’s campaign obit on page one.

http://www.journalism.org/node/9907

PEJ Campaign Coverage Index: February 11 - 17, 2008
Media Narrative Vaults Obama into Frontrunner Slot

<snip>

Conversely, Obama—who ran his post-Super Tuesday winning streak to eight states with the Feb. 12 “Potomac Primary” and established a delegate lead—rode a wave of positive coverage, depicting him with a real, if not decisive advantage. Obama was a significant or dominant factor in 55.5% of the week’s campaign coverage compared to 57% for Clinton—the highest level of coverage for both since the Campaign Coverage Index began five weeks ago. But when it came to the tone of that coverage, he was a big winner.

Here’s one symbolic illustration of those divergent narratives. The front-page Feb. 11 USA Today story began with the news that Clinton team, after a series of primary and caucus defeats, had replaced campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle. The next day, ABC’s Good Morning America reported that the famed wax museum, Madame Tussauds, had just unveiled a statue of Obama standing in the Oval Office of the White House. (A Clinton statue had been created a year ago. But in politics, timing and momentum are everything.)

http://www.journalism.org/node/9828

[AX10]

25. A few days of some negative press does not equal bias.

The media has had their knives out for the Clinton's since 1992.
Now, that is bias!

[ClassWarrior]

26. My victimhood is deeper than your victimhood?

:rofl:

NGU.