About once a week I get these releases from an organization called "Project for Excellence in Journalism" that does statistical analysis of political coverage in national media over the preceding week. Generally, it’s a matter of "Hillary Clinton dominated coverage with X percent of headlines" or something like that.

The point, I suppose, is to quantify something that every consumer of news thinks he knows without counting.

Anyway, I pass this week’s release on to y’all, and if you show any interest, I’ll try to pass them on more often.

And yeah, this is a dull week in presidential politics — the most telling stat is that media interest in the campaign was only half as much as the week before — but that’s also why I had time to look at it; it’s a slower week here in S.C. as well. Maybe you would be more interested in browsing through past reports. Anyway, here’s the release:

    The media marked the kickoff of the general election with a focus on how Barack Obama and John McCain differ on major issues such as the economy and the war in Iraq, according to a Project for Excellence in Journalism study of election coverage.
    A variety of issues led the media narrative last week. Attention to the candidates’ positions on the economy (18% of the total newshole for campaign stories), gas prices (6%), the Iraq war (5%), health care and immigration (both less than 1%) accounted for nearly one-third of the campaign coverage newshole as measured by PEJ’s Campaign Coverage Index for June 9-15.
     Obama generated the most candidate coverage last week, appearing as a significant or dominant factor in 77% of campaign stories. McCain trailed at 55%, but jumped 34 points, up from 21% the previous week. In the first week after officially suspending her campaign, Hillary Clinton was a leading newsmaker in 10% of election stories—a 50-point drop from the week before.
     Aside from coverage of the policy arguments, the press last week devoted a good chunk of the campaign narrative (18% of the newshole) to controversies, particularly the resignation of Obama’s vice-presidential search-team leader James Johnson. The Johnson flap alone accounted for 11% of last week’s campaign coverage. In addition, the theme of the two candidates trying to unify their parties accounted for 13% of the coverage—with most of that devoted to the fallout from the bruising Democratic nomination battle.
     The findings in PEJ’s Campaign Coverage Index—which will appear weekly during the campaign season—include:

• Michelle Obama appeared as a significant or leading newsmaker in 6% of election stories the week of June 9-15—a major increase from the week before when she registered in only 1%. 
• The controversial pastors just don’t seem to go away. Together, coverage of Obama’s relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and McCain’s relationship with Rev. John Hagee accounted for 3% of the week’s campaign coverage.
• The campaign, which filled 24% of the overall newshole, registered its second lowest level of coverage in 2008 during the week of June 9-15, a significant plunge from the previous week’s 50% mark.

Click here for a direct link to a PDF of the report. The study is for immediate release at our website, www.journalism.org.

Tom Rosenstiel
Director
Project for Excellence in Journalism

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