| January Presidential Media Analysis

Today Media Tenor sent us their January Summary of Political Coverage in U.S. Media. In producing the report, Media Tenor, an international media analysis institute, analyzed 13,429 “statements by or about political protagonists” in the Wall Street Journal, ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, and Time Magazine.

The report is full of interesting data points. Media Tenor’s headlines (their language):

• In January, U.S. media exchanges their favorite, Howard Dean, for John Kerry, and Kerry profits from the television hype

• Criticism of President Bush increases in January – and consequently his approval rating in the polls decreases

• In covering the Democratic candidates, policy related issues play only a minor role, particularly on U.S. television news

I also thought these graphics were interesting, and they’re examples of what you can find in the full report (click to enlarge the charts):

Read the report here (it’s a PDF file), and visit Media Tenor here.

Posted by Alan at February 16, 2004 10:21 PM | TrackBack

Interesting how Newsweek is the only way to break the pattern…

Posted by: FH at February 17, 2004 02:58 AM

Even the WSJ, who is leading the pack, focused less than 40% of its coverage on policy issues. That is just sad. Media coverage is focusing on the presidential race as entertainment. God help us all. Thanks for the post, Alan; it is enlightening as it is discouraging.

Posted by: Todd at February 17, 2004 08:23 AM

The Big Media care ABSOLUTELY nothing about the U.S. (or so it appears)
—— only about Money. Unfortunately, most people still listen to “so-called”
Television news and do not bother to do their own investigations.

It’s known as “sheep-itis”, ya know.

Posted by: leaddog2 at February 17, 2004 12:13 PM

NEWSWEEK is supposedly the most pro-Bush? I must be reading this wrong. I don’t know how anybody can read that rag and come to this conclusion. (btw, I would never pay for the damned thing - my mother insists on subscribing, and sends me her copies when she’s done).

Posted by: samuelv at February 17, 2004 12:53 PM

I also have always thought that Newsweek was far more left-leaning, but maybe they are changing- go read their article comparing Kerry and Bush military records (try MSNBC). It was surprisingly fair, and Bush came out looking better overall.

Posted by: Dani at February 17, 2004 02:24 PM

Even the WSJ, who is leading the pack, focused less than 40% of its coverage on policy issues. That is just sad. I agree completely. I have a friend who works at a different Dow Jones publication, I’ll ask him about this.

Posted by: lewy14 at February 17, 2004 04:07 PM

Hmm. If Media Tenor had a vote, it would vote for Mr. Bush. The only journalists, anchors, network, cable, publications and so called ‘watchdog’ organizations that earn the word ‘objective’ from me are those that, try for the life of me, I cannot figure out which candidate, or which party, they lean toward, individually or collectively. After all the programs I watched last week carrying 911 Commissioner interviews, only a few included a Democrat panel member. Forget cable shows such as Hardball. Every time a republican guest makes a statement, the host mutters ‘right, right.’ Of course, independents or Greens are rarely included in cable or network news shows. What does Media Tenor have to say about the fact that Fox news viewers are the most misinformed of all U.S. news watchers? I do believe Fox has some serious competition on the horizon for that dubious honor.

Posted by: Indie2004 at June 21, 2004 02:03 PM