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Project for Excellence in Journalism
Obama "Shellacking" Captures Coverage
There are moments in media when all narratives point in the same direction, when the press seems to see events with an almost singular vision. Such a moment arrived for President Obama last week.
Driven by the ideas from President Obama's bipartisan debt commission, and the vocal reaction to it, the U.S. economy supplanted the midterm elections atop the mainstream news agenda last week for the first time in two months.
From Nov. 8-14, the economy accounted for 15% of the newshole according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. About half that coverage focused on the draft proposal from the National Commission for Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which -- in calling for some tax increases and spending cuts -- generated criticism from the left and the right.
The No. 2 story, at 12%, was the continuing fallout from the Nov. 2 congressional elections -- which produced major Republican gains -- with the narrative reinforcing a moment interpreted as a stinging rebuke for the president.
Obama's trip to the G-20 summit and Asia registered as the third-biggest story last week, filling 9% of the newshole. Much of that coverage highlighted the president's inability to secure a trade deal with South Korea and an apparent failure to ease economic tensions with China.
Indeed the media narrative last week portrayed a weakened president continuing to be buffeted by events from all sides. His commission's suggestions on deficit reduction were nearly drowned out by widespread criticism of them. The election coverage highlighted the road ahead for newly ascendant Republicans in Washington and in state houses. And the message coming out of the Asian trip was of deals not consummated and expectations not met. To make things worse, the events on the foreign trip seemed to come as a surprise for a White House that by week's end was being derided for not knowing what would await the president overseas.
One story on the Politico website -- headlined "Obama arrives home to new reality" -- tried to tie those themes together by declaring that the president's "time overseas also underscored the trouble he's having with the nitty-gritty of governing."
Two very different subjects rounded out the top-five story list last week. It wasn't exactly the "Love Boat" as the saga of a disabled Carnival cruise ship -- with several thousand passengers on board -- was the No. 4 story at 4% of the newshole. Rescued passengers told of overflowing toilets and scarce food supplies.
Next, also at 4%, was former President George W. Bush's new memoir media tour -- which included interviews with people ranging from Matt Lauer to Rush Limbaugh. The book itself appeared not to break much dramatic new ground. In the first week in November, Bush made news for acknowledging he had approved the waterboarding of terror suspect Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. One attention-grabbing nugget last week was a reconciliation of sorts between Bush and rapper Kanye West. In his book, "Decision Points," the ex-president criticized West's denunciation of him as someone who "doesn't care about black people." Last week, West offered a mea culpa for remarks made in "frustration" in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.