PEJ: Palin Tops McCain in Post-Convention Coverage
Project for Excellence in Journalism news analysis find that Republican VP pick was 'significant or dominant' factor in 60% of coverage.
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/9/2008 9:12:00 AM
A Project for Excellence in Journalism news analysis of campaign coverage for the week of Sept. 1-7 confirmed what everyone already knew: Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for vice president brought a major buzz factor to the Republican campaign.
According to PEJ, Palin was a "significant or dominant" factor in 60% of the coverage, compared with 52% for McCain. She also topped Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) 57% for the Democrats’ convention week. This means Palin, as the first woman on a Republican presidential ticket, drew more press than Obama did as the first African American on any major party presidential ticket.
By contrast, Obama's pick of Sen. Joe Biden (Del.) for VP claimed only 8% of the campaign news hole for the Democrats’ convention week (Aug. 25-31). In fact, Palin, whose announcement came Aug. 29, generated more buzz than Biden with 12% of coverage for that week.
Coverage of Palin's family life -- her daughter’s pregnancy, her husband's driving under the influence -- and her public record accounted for 16% of the campaign coverage, while the McCain campaign's complaint that the media was unfairly attacking her in some of those stories accounted for 1% of the coverage.
Overall, the Republican convention took up 58% of the overall news hole for the week, down from the 69% the Democrats claimed for coverage of their convention. But PEJ theorized that coverage of Hurricane Gustav might have reduced that news hole, just as it abbreviated the convention itself.
PEJ monitors about four-dozen major TV, Internet, radio and print news outlets.
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