Project for Excellence in Journalism

Midterms Dominate Coverage in Final Week

by Jesse Holcomb, Research Analyst, Project for Excellence in Journalism
November 2, 2010

The final stretch of campaigning before the Nov. 2 elections resulted in the biggest week yet for midterm coverage, with political controversy and turmoil emerging as key themes.

For the week of Oct. 25-31, the midterms accounted for 42% of the newshole, up from 38% the week before, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. Coverage of this story almost equaled that of the biggest weekly story of the year, when passage of the health care reform bill filled 45% of the newshole from March 22-28.

The elections also topped the news agenda in every media sector studied by PEJ. True to form, this was especially the case in cable (57%) and radio (56%), two sectors that are home to a number of ideological talk shows.

Certain aspects of the media's campaign narrative carried over from previous weeks, including attention to close Senate races and negative campaign tactics. But also present this week was a focus on specific races where Tea Party candidates faced potentially damaging controversies. In addition, the coverage homed in on two cases in which Democratic candidates bucked their party leadership.

As evidence of the dominance of the campaign in the news agenda, the No. 2 story for the week (the economy at 6%) accounted for only about one-seventh as much coverage as the midterms. While there was no overriding economic theme last week, the press continued to cover the questionable foreclosure practices that had been exposed around the country.

A thwarted terror plot -- the interception of Chicago-bound packages containing explosives -- was the third-biggest story (at 5%), despite the fact that news broke late in the week, on Oct. 29. The two packages, which were found in the U.K. and Dubai, were coming from Yemen, and targeted for Jewish houses of worship.

After many weeks of negligible coverage, the Gulf oil disaster was once again in the news, this time as the No. 4 story. The media reported on the findings of a federal commission that Halliburton, contracted to work with BP, knew before the explosion that the cement it used to seal the well was inadequate. Coverage of the findings accounted for 3% of the week's news.

Finally, the war in Afghanistan generated attention (3% of the newshole) when President Hamid Karzai publicly addressed reports, first published by the New York Times, that his country has been accepting money from Iran.

Continue reading the full report at journalism.org.