Palin, Debate Drive Campaign Coverage

Though the U.S. economic crisis dominated general news coverage -- and indeed became one of the biggest stories PEJ ever recorded -- it was another event, the Oct. 2 vice-presidential debate, that drove the 2008 campaign narrative. From Sept. 29-Oct. 5, the fiscal meltdown and efforts to fashion a bailout package filled 45% of the overall news coverage examined by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. Not only was that significantly more coverage than the campaign -- which filled 34% of the newshole. The various events connected to the debate accounted for more than half (52%) of last week's election coverage, according to PEJ's Campaign Coverage Index. The biggest storyline was the debate itself, at 45% of the newshole. Other related themes included Katie Couric's much-discussed interview with Palin, (5%), which helped establish the stakes and expectations for the debate. A flap over whether debate moderator Gwen Ifill might harbor a bias toward Barack Obama accounted for another 2%. The debate's central role in last week's election coverage was also reflected in the competition for media exposure. Last week Palin led all the candidates in coverage, registering as a significant or dominant newsmaker in 51% of the campaign stories. That represents a major increase over the previous week when she was a significant or dominant factor in only 15% of the campaign stories. Biden, who has largely been ignored by the media, was a significant or dominant factor in 30% of the stories last week. That more than doubled his previous high water mark (13%), which occurred the week he was added to the Democratic ticket.