Media Tenor: Economic Pessimism Batters Candidates

New York, July 3, 2008: As negative economic news continues to surge, economic and tax issues continue to weigh down both candidates, with neither being able to achieve an advantage.

“For both candidates on these issues it remains an issue of who is less negatively rated,” says says Roland Schatz, President of Media Tenor International. “If either candidate can improve their coverage on the economy, it would give them a strong advantage, but there’s so much pessimism, this may not be possible.”

According to Media Tenor’s “Slant-O-Meter” Obama has a small edge on the economy when compared to McCain, but this is neutralized by McCain’s lead on tax issues.

Media Tenor’s data showed that coverage of the economy became both more negative and a larger share of the news this week, continuing a recent trend.

“Despite the economic situation, there are still positives for both candidates,” notes Schatz. “McCain had a big win this week on leadership issues. Some of that might have been related to positive coverage of his military service due to the July 4th holiday, but it’s also true that Obama’s change agenda is increasingly being questioned.”

Media Tenor’s Presidential Campaign Watch noticed an interesting positive for Obama: he was rated more positively by Fox News than McCain.

“Obama made a big push with religious conservatives on faith-based community service initiatives this week. Meanwhile, McCain has had ongoing problems with that constituency. This may account for Fox’s comparatively positive treatment of Obama,” Schatz says.

McCain also struggled to get his message out this week, with a shake-up amongst his campaign staff to prevent “unforced errors.”

“The data reflect this,” Shatz says. “Campaigning was the top issue for McCain and he had more negative ratings there. Certainly, the internal issues in his campaign were a distraction from topics of national importance and negatively affected his image this week.”

Obama less positive; McCain less negative

After a difficult media week last week, McCain halved the share of negative statements he received, although his positives also dropped slightly. Obama, meanwhile, lost his advantage as his positives dropped sharply.

Newsweek, Time, ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox News coverage, 4/14 - 7/2/2008: tone of coverage by weeks

Basis: all statements by or on Obama and McCain in Newsweek, Time, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox evening news programs 4/14 - 7/2/2008

Fox News displeased with both candidates

Fox news continues to assail both candidates with a nearly equal proportion of negative statements. Obama, however, received twice the share of positive statements, possibly thanks to his focus on faith-based community service initiatives this week.

Candidate coverage, 6/23 - 7/2/2008: tone of Obama and McCain coverage by media outlets

Basis: all statements by or on Obama and McCain in Newsweek, Time, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox evening news programs 6/23 - 7/2/2008

Economic issues burden both candidates

Will pessimism on the US economy neutralize it as a campaign issue? John McCain is rated more negatively than Obama, with only one positive statement on economic issues in the last four weeks, yet Obama has no real advantage on the issue either.

Newsweek, Time, ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox News coverage, 6/9 - 7/2/2008: Economic policy

Basis: all statements by or on Obama or McCain in Newsweek, Time, ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX evening news programs 6/9 - 7/2/2008

To read the full Media Tenor election report in PDF format click here.

For the third time, International Media analysis company Media Tenor is offering a detailed analysis of the U.S. presidential campaign. TV news coverage of the leading Presidential contenders is scrutinized at a detailed level. “The methodology was developed 15 years ago and has been successfully used not only to analyze the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Presidential campaigns, but also for International politics as well,” Schatz explains. Media Tenor’s Presidential Campaign Watch focuses not only on candidate standings, but also on topics and sources, while adding an international perspective. Results of Media Tenor studies will be regularly published on MediaChannel.org.

For further information visit: MediaTenor.com

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