By: E&P Staff The Project for Excellence in Journalism, which of late has charted media coverage in the race for president, reports today that despite the battle for the Democratic nomination still dominating campaign coverage the week of May 19-25, John McCain re-emerged as a major newsmaker last week.
According to a new Project study, McCain appeared as a dominant or significant factor in 41% of campaign stories -- his highest level of coverage since the Super Tuesday contests the week of Feb. 4-10.
The presumptive GOP nominee was not the most-covered candidate, but key story lines about McCain did account for a significant amount of the media narrative last week. Taken together, stories about McCain's foreign policy fight with Obama, his renunciation of Rev. John Hagee, his health records, the search for a vice president, and his lobbyist-related campaign departures accounted for one-third of all the election stories last week.
The findings in PEJ's Campaign Coverage Index, which will appear weekly during the campaign season, include:
* McCain's repudiation of Pastor Hagee's endorsement accounted for 8% of last week's campaign stories. But that pales in comparison to coverage at the height of the flap over Obama's relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which amounted to 42% of the campaign stories the week of April 28-May 4.
* Clinton's coverage saw a 10-point drop from the previous week (53%), and Obama fell six points during that time frame. McCain's coverage saw a 14-point jump from 27% the week of May 12-18 to 41% last week.
* Election coverage accounted for 37% of the newshole for the week of May 19-25. The campaign was the top story across all media sectors. Cable devoted 65% of airtime to the presidential race and radio 49%.
To download a PDF of the report, go
here.
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