State of the Media
The Pew Research Center released its annual “State of the Media” report yesterday. For a cable news hater such as myself it’s a treasure trove of ammunition. I’ve compiled the study’s core findings for cable news (CNN, MSNBC, and FOX) below.
Wedge Issues
When it came to specific stories, cable news showed a tendency to take the biggest stories of the year and make them bigger, particularly stories that lent themselves to argument, predictions and political divide.
What’s news?
One distinguishing factor of cable is how different the definition of news is on each of the three major channels. This is the only medium studied where we see such contrasts. the No. 1 topic on each of the three channels was different, the only sector where we found this disparity among rival outlets. On MSNBC it was the politics. On Fox, it was crime. On CNN, it was U.S. foreign policy.
In simplest terms, MSNBC focused itself around Washington, the campaign and political scandal, often with an eye sharply critical of the Bush administration, to good ratings effect.
Fox was more oriented to crime, celebrity and the media than its rivals.
CNN tended by degrees to devote somewhat more time across a range of topics…
On Fox, the four topics of crime, celebrity, disasters and media topics alone filled 34% of the airtimes studied. That is 46% more than on CNN and MSNBC. Yet political topics, particularly those involving the Bush administration, were aired far less.
The war in Iraq, by example, filled 10% of the airtime studied on Fox in 2007, compared with 16% on CNN and 18% on MSNBC.
Day vs. Night
During the day, younger hosts, their names not built into the program titles, their experience less clear, sit in the anchor chairs. This is a group of usually physically attractive and often young, on-air “talent.” At night, cable’s better known hosts and personalities fill the time, focusing on topics they particularly care about or fit the formula of their show.
This changes the content. The No. 1 topic in daytime hours studied was crime, the only sector studied where that was true in PEJ’s content studies, where it filled fully 20% of the time studied, nearly double the number at night. Accidents and disasters similarly filled 11% of time studied, again more than double prime time. Celebrity entertainment was larger in daytime than at night by nearly half (7% vs. 4%). Politics and the campaign for president, in contrast, was a smaller story (8% vs. 20% at night).
News agenda
Lou Dobbs:
Five topics on Dobbs’ program — U.S. foreign policy, immigration, politics, government and the military situation at home — make up 70% of the hours studied. Dobbs’ No. 1 story of the year far beyond any other was immigration, accounting for nearly a quarter of all the airtime studied (22%). And if anyone thought Dobbs separates his commentary from his reporting, the video offers a different impression.
“Tonight crushing defeat for President Bush and the Senate’s Democratic leadership on amnesty, a glorious victory for the American people,” Dobbs began June 28, the night the immigration bill failed.
Kieth Olbermann:
On two-thirds of the nights studied, Olbermann opened with a story that offered the opportunity for him to look askance at the Bush administration over its antiterrorism tactics or other disputed issues.
“Good evening,” he began on May 15. “The etymology is unclear, but the phrase is politically apt, especially tonight. We’re checking for tire treads on the just-resigned deputy attorney general, Paul McNulty, after he got rolled under the wheels by his erstwhile boss, Alberto Gonzales,” and then without starting a new sentence he turned to another White House controversy involving the World Bank, saying, “the White House today indicating it might be willing to give Paul Wolfowitz a glimpse of pavement and the oncoming vehicle.”
And for the record, the death of Anna Nicole Smith made it into cable news’ 10 most covered stories in 2007.
See also:
+ Former CNN producer unloads on network
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