Hiding in Plain Sight, From Kennedy to Brown

The national media lost interest almost immediately, and then horse-race coverage dominated what was considered a fairly dull and utterly local contest. And when it became clear something was up, it was polling -- not journalistic reporting -- that caught the wave in the race to succeed Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

In the end, a campaign that first seemed to lack drama and star power was the most important and intensely covered political story in the country. And while they were certainly not alone, the press never saw it coming. These are some of the findings in a new study produced by Boston University and the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism about how newspapers covered the Massachusetts special election to fill the seat created by Kennedy's death. The study covered two time periods. The first was the Democratic and Republican primary races from September 1-December 8, 2009. The second was the final two weeks of the general election campaign from January 6-19, 2010, when the media began to sense there was an actual contest for the seat.