Clinton Battles the Obama Boom, McCain Battles the Times

CLINTON BATTLES THE OBAMA BOOM, MCCAIN BATTLES THE TIMES
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Project for Excellence in Journalism]
If the week of Feb. 18-24 began with Barack Obama cementing his frontrunner status with the media in the Democratic primary fight, it ended with the New York Times coming perilously close to writing Hillary Clinton’s campaign obit on page one. Beneath the grim headline “Somber Clinton Soldiers On as the Horizon Darkens” was a story that offered this passel of pessimism on Sunday, Feb. 24: “Morale is low. After 13 months of dawn-to-dark seven-day weeks, the staff is exhausted. Some have taken to going home early — 9 p.m. — turning off their BlackBerrys, and polishing off bottles of wine, several senior staff members said.” With their grueling primary battle possibly heading toward the endgame, Democrats dominated campaign coverage by about 2-1 in the period last week, which stretched from the day before the Wisconsin primary to three days after the big Texas debate. Obama, who ran his post-Super Tuesday winning streak to 11 primary contests, won the race for media attention last week. By appearing as a significant or dominant factor in 57% of all campaign stories, he attracted his highest level of coverage since the Campaign Coverage Index was launched in January. And although she trailed him, by registering in 50% of last week’s coverage, Clinton generated her second-highest total. But it was Obama’s impressive 17-point win in the Feb. 19 Wisconsin primary that was expected to be competitive that determined the Democrats’ media narrative last week.
http://www.journalism.org/node/9907