12/2/2023 0 Comments Truth unveiled networkIn terms of the frame of coverage, cable’s overall attention to the horse race elements of the campaign (54% of the newshole) was virtually the same as the overall percentage for all media sectors (53%). And no other sector came close to cable’s level of interest in the race.Ī look at the components of that extensive coverage reveals a few counter-intuitive findings about a medium that, on the surface, might seem to dwell heavily on the strategy and tactics of the race and the high-tech electoral maps. Overall, the percentage of newshole devoted to the campaign in the media generally was far less-only 38%. Fully 60% of all the cable news airtime examined in this report was devoted to the 2008 election. Perhaps the aspect of campaign coverage that most distinguished the cable news sector was the sheer volume of attention paid to the presidential race. It was also clearly more negative about both John McCain and Sarah Palin. When it comes to the tone of the segments and stories about candidates overall, MSNBC was more favorable and, even more clearly, less critical of Barack Obama than the press generally. The editorial approach is manifest beyond just who is sitting in the anchor chair or getting the last word. That personality became arguably even clearer in the general election season with the arrival of Air America radio talk show host Rachel Maddow as anchor of the 9 p.m. In the 2008 election season, MSNBC, the perennial third-place finisher in the cable news ratings race, unveiled a new approach-positioning itself in prime time as a leftward-leaning analog to the Fox News Channel. Doing, this Fox varied from the press overall by 40%, and MSNBC by 30%. Which network in the end varied most from the press overall? One way of testing this is to average the statistical difference in positive and negative coverage for the two presidential candidates. Onįox, the biggest variance is how much more positive coverage there is of McCain than elsewhere. Statistically, the biggest difference is how little negative coverage there is of Obama on MSNBC versus the press generally. While the concept of “blue truth” and “red truth” in the news media is overstated when one examines the mainstream press overall, the data here clearly show three distinct colors to the news of the presidential campaign on the three main cable channels. And those opinions are often quite different from one channel to the next. Given the intense attention to the daily campaign trail, their extensive coverage of primary election nights, the two major conventions, and their sponsoring of primary debates-as well as the diminished coverage of such key moments on the three traditional broadcast networks-cable news has in some ways become the primary medium for politics on television now.Īt the same time, with a prime-time lineup dominated by talk and even more so this year by opinionated hosts, cable news hĪs in this campaign further institutionalized the sometimes uneasy hybrid of opinion and reporting. The cable news networks have devoted considerably more time to the race for the White House than any other media platform and have seen their ratings benefit as well. In many ways, the long and closely followed 2008 presidential campaign has been a boon for all three of the major cable news channels, Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC.
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