Coming to a Conclusion

In the time that this blog has been up, the media attention has been focused for the most part on the GOP side of the 2012 presidential campaigns. That is not to say that the media has chosen it to be this way. On the Democrat side there is only one big name candidate, President Barack Obama. Although there is always plenty of coverage on him, it simply did not focus much on the 2012 elections. On the Republican side however, there was plenty of news. The batch of GOP potential presidential candidates gave a lot to talk about. From who the people wanted to run, to who was actually running; it all took major attention from media outlets and in the next couple of months it is not likely to be different.

Writing about politics can be very difficult, not only because of the nature of politics but also because it is difficult to be objective and keep ones opinion out of the article. For the most part, most of the articles covered by this blog were objective. There was wording in one or two articles that were questionable but there were no articles that could be classified as outright bias. Most of the reporters writing these articles were able to go deep into the issue and not be biased. Most articles were clear and accurate. The only article that was hard to keep up with was the article from the Daily Mail on Mike Huckabee, but even then it gave the best coverage on his announcement.

Most of the news outlets that published these articles had a variety of good sources contributing to their stories. There are plenty of people at this moment that are willing to contribute to these stories because any publicity to a potential candidate is essential. The 2012 presidential campaign is going to the topic of discussion for over the next year or so, and depending on what happens on election night, it can be the topic of discussion for years to come. The news outlets in this country and even the ones abroad have been doing a good job of keeping people informed on what is happening. Most importantly however, these news outlets are keeping Americans involved in this political process and informing American readers on who is running and what they are all about before they head to the polls.

Huckabee not running in 2012

           Republican favorite Mike Huckabee has announced that he will not be running for president in 2012. Huckabee who had been leading in recent opinion polls announced on his Fox television show, that although all the factors were leaning towards another possible run, his heart said no. Huckabee made a run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008 and was a favorite for 2012. The two articles that this entry will focus on come from non-American publications, the first is from the Daily Mail in the UK and the second is the New Zealand Herald from New Zealand.

The article on the Daily Mail website included screenshots of Huckabee’s show, from the episode where he announced that he will not be running. It also included the actual video of Huckabee’s announcement, pictures of Donald Trump and Ron Paul and a table that included the official candidates and small bios on them. Although reading online articles with multimedia accompaniments is enjoyable, this page was simply an overload. A lot of the accompaniments were in between the text of the article and it made it very difficult to read and focus. The majority of the text was also quotes and attributions from Huckabee’s announcement, it also included quotes from Ed Rollins, Huckabee’s 2008 national campaign chairman, explaining how he knew Huckabee’s decision beforehand. All in the entire article was objective and accurate but that was about it.

The article from the New Zealand Herald was obtained though the Associated Press. The article did notify the readers of the fact that Huckabee would not be running and included a quote from his announcement. However it would have been better if the article would have focused more on Huckabee rather than other candidates and Obama. After about the second paragraph the article drifts to President Obama and other candidates, it talks about poll numbers and other issues but talks very little about Huckabee. If one were to only read this article, they would have no idea of why Huckabee made the decision that he did, which is the actual story.

Huckabee not running is not breaking news but it does deserve a good amount of coverage. It was surprising seeing a story on this in newspapers around the world. Both articles were objective and accurate but the Daily Mail was more informative on the issue on hand.  It would have been better if the pictures and video would have been arranged differently and if there would have been a cut on Huckabee quotes from the announcement but it got the job done. The article in the Herald was lacking and did not go into detail on Huckabee’s decision. The Daily Mail did a better job on covering the announcement.

NEWS ARTICLES USED:

The Daily Mail: Deal me out: Mike Huckabee announces he will not run in 2012 presidential campaign

New Zealand Herald: Huckabee out of White House race

It's Official: Gingrich is Running for President

               Newt Gingrich has officially announced his candidacy for president. Gingrich who has been a popular potential candidate for some time now has made his intentions of running for president official, with a tweet and a Facebook post. This is the first major republican candidate to announce his bid. This entry will be looking at two articles on Gingrich’s announcement. The first from the San Francisco Chronicle written by Philip Eliott and Shannon McCaffrey from the Associated Press and the second from ABC News written by Jonathan Karl and Gregory Simmons.

                The article on the San Francisco Chronicle had a very basic and to the point headline and lead. The article continued in the same fashion, it included a quote from Gingrich’s Facebook post and talked about what Gingrich has done so far to get his campaign started. Elliott and McCaffrey also mention a couple of things in Gingrich’s past that can affect his campaign and chances of winning the GOP nomination. The article also has a brief mention on what other potential candidates have begun working on campaign exploratory committees.

                ABC News focused a lot on the fact that the announcement was made through twitter but also took the time to talk about Gingrich’s chances of getting the nomination. The article has quotes from Gingrich on his opinion on President Obama and it also contains the actual tweet that declared his candidacy. Along with the tweet was the actual video of Gingrich making his candidacy official, to which the link was provided in the tweet. Karl and Simmons talk a lot about Gingrich’s political past and mention poll results on Obama and Gingrich that give insight to how people feel about both presidential candidates.

                Both articles did a good job talking about the chances that Gingrich has at obtaining the GOP nomination and also about different issues that might stand in his way. They were both objective and did a good job at that while mentioning what are seen by most as negative facts about Gingrich. There is a discrepancy on the year that Gingrich left office, the Chronicle says he left office in 1999 and ABC News says it was in 1998. After looking at other outlets with the same story, the year varies from publication to publication. This however does not really have a negative effect when it comes to their credibility. Both articles had good coverage on this announcement but ABC News added a bit more by providing the video of Gingrich making his announcement. Although it is expected from a television website to include something like this in their package, it could have also been done by the Chronicle.

NEWS ARTICLES USED:
San Francisco Chronicle: Newt Gingrich enters presidential race
ABC News: Newt Gingrich Announces 2012 Presidential Campaign via Twitter

Iowa Republican Donors Want Gov. Christie for President

               With the GOP field of presidential candidates slowly forming, some republican donors from Iowa have taken matters into their own hands.  A group of Iowan republicans have been trying to convince Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey to make a run for the presidency. This entry will focus on two articles on this topic, the first from the Washington Post attained through the Associated Press and the second from CBS News written by Lucy Madison

                The article on the Washington Post was good and provided a lot of good information. This article provided information on who exactly is courting Gov. Christie and why. It has plenty of quotes and attributions from Bruce Rastetter, one of the donors trying to get Christie to run. Rastetter gives a lot of insight as to why Gov. Christie is the candidate that can beat President Obama and the one that will fight for what they believe is important. There are also quotes from Mike DuHaime, the governor’s chief political adviser and GOP consultant Mary Matalin. This article also talks about other potential candidates that the donors have approached including Gov. Jeb Bush.  The Associated Press does a good job of covering all the bases on this topic.

                Lucy Madison from CBS News also does a good job of covering this topic but does not go into much detail on other possible candidates that have been courted. Madison attributed much of the information and even quotes from Bruce Rastetter to the Associated Press. After reading the article from the Post, this article on CBS News just seems as a summary of the article from the AP. However it did do a good job of covering why Iowa donors want Gov. Christie to run and even goes as far as using a quote from the governor himself on this topic. The quote from the governor alone made this article stand out.

                Both articles covered the topic nicely but both did it in different ways. They were both accurate and objective. The article from the Post expanded on the topic where as CBS News only spoke about Christie. Although reading about other candidates that Iowa donors have courted was enjoyable, the article on CBS News was short and to the point. The article on the Post was most informative but readers don’t have much time and many would probably not continue reading onto the second page. Madison did a good job of sticking to her narrow topic and informing the reader in a short amount of time.

NEWS ARTICLES USED:
Washington Post: Top Iowa Republican donors court New Jersey Gov. Christie to run for president in 2012
CBS News: Iowa donors court Chris Christie for presidential bid

NEA in the process of endorsing Obama in 2012 campaign

     President Obama is on his way to receiving his first official endorsement. The National Education Association has begun its process to officially endorse Obama in the 2012 campaign. Although it seems a bit early, the NEA political action committee only meets once a year and delaying their decision would mean that they would only have a few months in 2012 to fully support the president. Early on in Obama’s term, he was able to pass a stimulus package that gave universities and schools $150 billion in spending. The NEA feels as though Obama will be the only candidate that will support their union and education. This entry will focus on two articles on this endorsement. The first from the Huffington Post written by Sam Stein and the second from USA Today written by David Jackson.

                The article on the Huffington Post was long and informative, it did not just state the possible endorsement but also why it is happening so early and why the NEA will most likely be backing Barack Obama. The headline could have been condensed a bit more to make a bigger impact but ultimately it got the job done, it is intriguing enough to make the reader want to continue reading. The lead does a good job in explaining the headline and the nutgraf in the second paragraph expands on what is going on. This article had good sources such as Karen White, the NEA director of campaign and elections, who explained why the process of choosing a candidate to endorse is happening so early and why she believed Obama is the person the NEA should endorse.

                The article on USA Today w as very short and felt as though it was lacking a lot of information. The majority of the story was a statement made by Dennis Van Roekel, the president of the NEA. It somewhat read as a press release rather than a news article. Although the issue at hand is not an official endorsement, it still deserved more coverage. The Huffington Post took a lot more time and space to talk about this endorsement possibility and was a lot more informational. Both articles are objective and clear but the USA Today article did not really go into the issue at hand. Jackson, the reporter for USA Today could have talked more on Why the NEA is choosing to support Obama and why the process is being done so early. The article on the Post was superior and was creative in expanding what could have been just a statement as USA Today did, to an actual informative article. 

News Articles Used:  

Huffington Post: Obama's Stimulus Reaps Rewards: Major Education Union Begins 2012 Endorsement 

USA Today: Obama poised for endorsement from teachers' union 

Where were the front-runners?

       On Thursday, the first republican debate took place in South Carolina but rather than what was said making headlines; the lack of big names is. Republicans have been slow on making a run for the presidency and only have a few official big names bidding for the republican nomination. Many Americans were hoping that this first official GOP debate, which has been the introduction to republican front-runners in the past, would give an idea as to who is else is making their run official. Instead viewers got one front-runner and four other candidates with not much support. This entry will be looking at two articles on this event.  The first, an article on the Miami Herald website in their nation wires section written by David Lightman from Mcclatchy Newspapers and the second from the Salt Lake Tribune written by Thomas Burr.

                The article on the Miami Herald is clear and objective, the reporter was able to talk about a number of topics without confusing the reader. The headline was basic yet intriguing, the lead was also basic and covered the, who, what, when. The transitions were good and made it easy to understand. There were a lot of great quotes and attributions from the candidates and even Matt Rhoades, Mitt Romney’s campaign manager, explaining why the governor did not attend the debate. Lightman, the reporter was able to explain to the reader the issues that were covered and what the candidates had to say, through quotes.  This article covered the bases of what happened at the debate and why other candidates did not show.

                The article on the Salt Lake Tribune had a good basic headline that was intriguing but for some reason did not have the same effect as the headline from the Herald. The lead was concise and to the point, Burr made up for any missing information and any necessary explanation in the nutgraf, which was in the second paragraph of the article. Thomas Burr the reporter from the Tribune differentiated from David Lightman by not using quotes and attributions to tell what happened but rather mentioned the highlights and giving a few quotes to expand on the highlights of the event.  The article itself was clear until the last paragraph, which mentioned Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr by last name. Huntsman was briefly mentioned at the beginning and was not a name that was reinstated throughout the article. A simple reminder of who Huntsman is would have made the last paragraph clearer. Burr was able to stay neutral and overall did a good job retelling the points of the night.

                Both reporters and outlets did a good job covering the important issues of the debate. It would have been a great added bonus if either had some type of infographic or video clip of the debate. Both pages seamed plain and did not catch much attention. Lightman, the reporter from Mcclatchy made his story a bit more enjoyable by using great quotes. Lightman did a good job making a story that can be pretty bland to a reader, enjoyable. Covering a debate where there were no big names is not really a story, but the fact that there are no big names in a debate that has been known in the past for kicking off campaigns is. 

News Articles Used:
 Miami Herald: First GOP presidential debate most notable for the no-shows 

Salt Lake Tribune: First GOP debate lacks high-profile names 

What will bin Laden's death do for President Obama's re-election bid?

After historic events, presidents tend to see an increase in their approval ratings. The raid approved by President Obama, that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden was no different. The question now is whether or not bin Laden’s death will impact President Obama’s re-election campaign.  Analysts say that while American citizens are happy with the action President Obama took, the economy is still the number one priority. Analysts also say that bumps in ratings like this one do not last long and people will forget. This entry will be looking at an article on the San Francisco Chronicle written by Joe Garofoli and an article from FoxNews.com written by Stephen Clark.

 The article on the Chronicle was a fairly good story, it had a good basic headline but it did not intrigue the reader much. The lead was a bit long and would have flowed a lot better if it had been broken into two sentences.  Garofoli used plenty of quotes and attributions from good sources such as Ford O’Connell a republican strategist, Darrell West the director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution and even Obama himself. The attributions and quotes helped cover the topic very well. Garofoli also broke the article down to subheads, which made the article very easy to read. Overall the article was accurate, objective, clear and a good read.

The article on FoxNews.com was also very informative on the topic. The headline was also pretty basic and focused on what the main topic of the story; the problem is that the main topic that was stated in the headline was buried in the story and not in the lead where it should have been. When looking at the lead the words “a president who appears vulnerable on economic issues”  make it seem like the reporter is being bias because of the fact that not everyone may agree that President Obama is vulnerable on such issues.  The reporter had good quotes and attributions made by such sources as, Mitt Romney the “front-runner” for the republican presidential nomination and Dick Harpootlian the former chairman of South Carolina Democratic Party. Along with the article was an infographic displaying a table of approval ratings, which was a good compliment to the story.

Overall both stories did a good job covering this topic and both came to the same conclusion. The article on the San Francisco Chronicle did a better job of covering different aspects of the death of Osama bin Laden that make an impact on the 2012 presidential race. The FoxNews.com story felt as though it was lacking a bit and did not focus on what the headline said until halfway into the story, if an editor were to cut the bottom half of the story the headline would have to be tossed out. The death of bin Laden was covered by every news outlet that exists and I was glad to see that reporters took a different angle when covering it and also they were not incredibly bias, which can be very hard while covering politics.    

 NEWS ARTICLES USED:  Obama expected to see bump from bin Laden killing 

Despite Bin Laden's Death, Obama's Re-Election Hopes Still Tied to Economy, GOP Strategists Say

What is this blog all about?

This blog will explore the media coverage of the 2012 Presidential Campaign along with its candidates by analyzing the different ways that numerous news outlets present the same information to the public. With the 2012 Presidential Election only a year and a half away, the public is looking to be well informed as to who is running and what they represent. As of now the only official candidate is President Barack Obama, who is looking to be on the Democratic ticket.  Being that the President is the only candidate as of now is not in any way affecting the news coverage on the 2012 election. There are plenty of issues on hand regarding President Obama’s run that can make or break the chances of his re-election and they are making the media rounds. There is also much speculation on who will be running against the president and be on the Republican ticket. At the moment there are four possible republican candidates which include former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, former governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum the former Senator of Pennsylvania. Of course there is also one more big name getting a lot of attention, Donald Trump one of the most known real-estate moguls in the world. No one is really sure as to whether or not Trump is serious about his run, only time will tell. This topic is very important because this next presidential election will be crucial to America’s future. The best way to really keep on track to what is going on in the presidential campaign and its candidates is to cover it and to analyze what is being said.  The greatness of the democratic system is that the people get the choice, or at least for the most part. The worst part is that a lot of the times, people have no idea who or what they are voting for.