Washington D.C. - A new study was released Friday by the Project for Excellence in Journalism on the tone of the media coverage of the three candidates still running for the White House; John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
The research, conducted by the Pew Research Center in partnership with the Joan Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University looked at how various mainstream media outlets have talked about the three Senators since the beginning of the year.
It appears, for example, that the accusations brought forward by the Clinton campaign that media coverage has been more accepting of Barack Obama than of the ex-first lady are not grounded in any data. In fact, the study found that the image of the two democratic candidates that has been portrayed by the media has been equally positive until March and then it has become increasingly negative toward Obama. The report says; "From January 1, just before the Iowa caucuses, through March 9, following the Texas and Ohio contests, the height of the primary season, the dominant personal narratives in the media about Obama and Clinton were almost identical in tone, and were both twice as positive as negative...The trajectory of the coverage, however, began to turn against Obama, and did so well before questions surfaced about his pastor Jeremiah Wright...What’s more, an additional analysis of more general campaign topics suggests the Obama narrative became even more negative later in March, April and May."
In general, both Obama and Clinton have been more successful than John McCain in projecting the image they chose. Obama is viewed as representing change and hope and Clinton is described as being experienced and ready to be president on day one, precisely the message their campaigns have been trying to get across. John McCain, instead, doesn't seem as much in control and the media coverage on him has focused significantly on the fact that he's not a true conservative, something that he's been trying to wipe off, so far unsuccessfully .
The research, conducted by the Pew Research Center in partnership with the Joan Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University looked at how various mainstream media outlets have talked about the three Senators since the beginning of the year.
It appears, for example, that the accusations brought forward by the Clinton campaign that media coverage has been more accepting of Barack Obama than of the ex-first lady are not grounded in any data. In fact, the study found that the image of the two democratic candidates that has been portrayed by the media has been equally positive until March and then it has become increasingly negative toward Obama. The report says; "From January 1, just before the Iowa caucuses, through March 9, following the Texas and Ohio contests, the height of the primary season, the dominant personal narratives in the media about Obama and Clinton were almost identical in tone, and were both twice as positive as negative...The trajectory of the coverage, however, began to turn against Obama, and did so well before questions surfaced about his pastor Jeremiah Wright...What’s more, an additional analysis of more general campaign topics suggests the Obama narrative became even more negative later in March, April and May."
In general, both Obama and Clinton have been more successful than John McCain in projecting the image they chose. Obama is viewed as representing change and hope and Clinton is described as being experienced and ready to be president on day one, precisely the message their campaigns have been trying to get across. John McCain, instead, doesn't seem as much in control and the media coverage on him has focused significantly on the fact that he's not a true conservative, something that he's been trying to wipe off, so far unsuccessfully .
