TopicsOn The Media is produced by:
We've all by now heard about the sleeper factor in Election '04: moral values voters. But recently, some commentators have been questioning that explanation. They point to new data from the Pew Center showing that voters identify "moral values" as their biggest concern only when presented with a multiple choice questionnaire. Bob talks to Pew director Andrew Kohut about the sloppy origins of conventional wisdom.
Perhaps history will determine that the so-called values gap was a myth based on misleading exit-poll data. But even if the values gap is a myth, it's still likely that the media's knowledge gap about the American electorate is all too real. Peter Johnson, media columnist for USA Today, surveyed news managers in the midst of heavy soul searching, and reports his findings to Bob.
Could the election have been stolen? Since Kerry conceded, the blogosphere has been abuzz with reports of polling irregularities, and allegations of all-out fraud. Over the course of the week, new organizations’ inboxes were deluged by emails demanding answers. And gradually, the mainstream media began to pick up the strands. By week’s end the big question was in the big papers, even if it was only raised to be debunked. Brooke looks at the media’s handling of a hot potato.
It was the most important election, we were told, of our lifetimes. And as we anxiously watched the news anchors on Tuesday evening, they watched the exit polls with just as much anticipation. But unlike 2000, when the networks barged through the night to a premature declaration of victory for Gore, this time the watchword was caution. Bob sizes up the real-time coverage and assesses the lessons learned.
It was an exhausting evening for everybody, and especially for Kerry supporters who bothered to look at early exit poll returns on the Internet. Those numbers showed Kerry ahead in all the crucial states, and so by the end of the night, how the seemingly mighty had fallen. But it appears that our belief in exit polling itself will survive. A couple of days later, everybody was once again poring over the data. Bob talks to Philadelphia Inquirer TV critic Jonathan Storm.
The front page of a section in the London’s Guardian newspaper on Thursday was all black, save two white words in the middle of the page: “Oh, God.” The reaction to Bush’s victory in much of the rest of the European press was only slightly more muted. Brooke gets a sampling of the coverage from UPI editor in chief Martin Walker.
Over the past four years, OTM has often been accused of tilting in the direction of the president’s opponents. And we’ll be the first to admit that criticism has flowed often from these fonts. But we do, after all, focus on media, and the news media rely on the free exchange of information. As we prepare for another Bush Administration, Brooke takes the opportunity for a long, hard look at how freedom of information has fared under our once and future president.
While it's unclear how many undecided voters were swayed by the presidential debates, the three duels do seem to have set the tone for media coverage in recent weeks. A new study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism found that in early October, 59% of mainstream news stories about Bush were negative in tone. Only 25% of Kerry stories, in contrast, were negative. Brooke talks with PEJ director Tom Rosenstiel about judgemental campaign journalism current and past.
