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Project for Excellence in Journalism
A Quarter's Worth of News Coverage
Project for Excellence in Journalism's Analysis Finds Iraq War Coverage Mostly about the U.S., 2008 Presidential Campaign Coverage Mostly about Democrats
The four-year-old war in Iraq dwarfed all other topics in the American news media during the first quarter of 2007. But although the bloodshed is occurring about 6,000 miles from Washington, coverage of the conflict has been overwhelmingly U.S.-centric. More than 80% of war news has focused on Americans -- those shaping policy, fighting or affected at home. Only about one in six stories about the war has primarily been about Iraqis, whether about their government, their lives, or their casualties.
The second biggest story of the quarter was the 2008 presidential race, even with Election Day still 17 months away. The campaign consumed 7% of the newshole in the first three months, but that coverage has been quite lopsided. So far, the Democratic candidates have attracted about three times as much attention as the Republican contenders. And that is largely due to intense media interest in two people, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Those are some of the key conclusions drawn from the first quarterly report of the Project for Excellence in Journalism's News Coverage Index, a weekly content analysis of the coverage of 48 different outlets in five different media sectors.
Among the report's major findings:
- 55% of all Iraq war coverage has been about the political debate raging in Washington. And while 32% has focused on events in Iraq, more than half of that coverage has been about U.S. troops there.
- Coverage of the Democratic presidential hopefuls has outstripped that of the GOP candidates by 61% to 24%. And nine out of 10 of the 2008 campaign stories have been about tactics and horse race, rather than policy or character.
- The three cable news networks have revealed noticeably different news priorities. The Fox News Channel spent the most time on Anna Nicole Smith, CNN was most devoted to Iraq, while MSNBC focused most extensively on Beltway politics.
- By contrast, the lineups of the three big broadcast network nightly newscasts are nearly indistinguishable in terms of the subjects covered. If there are differences, they are in story presentation and anchor qualities.
- The online news sites consistently offer their users the broadest news agenda and widest range of international news. It was the only news platform to devote more coverage to events inside Iraq than to the political debate over the war.
- The public never seemed very interested, but the probe of the fired U.S. attorneys was the fourth most covered story at 4%. Coverage of this tale of Beltway intrigue threatening Attorney General Alberto Gonzales exceeded that accorded the Anna Nicole Smith saga, which finished eighth at 2%.