In the Public Interest?

Different papers clearly approach the campaign with noticeably different styles.

In general, the more local the paper, the more policy oriented the coverage, the more straight news accounts it provided, and the less analytical and thematic the reporting.

Yet the bigger differences were not about size but about individual papers.

Orlando Sentinel

While the Tribune-owned daily outside Disney World had fewer campaign stories than the national papers, it covered a greater percentage of policy stories than any of the five papers studied (37%), compared with 24% for the media in general. The only paper to come close was the Washington Post.

The paper ran a smaller percentage of political stories, though still sizable (47%). In particular, it ran fewer stories assessing candidate performance and tactics and strategy. Interestingly, it ran the greatest percentage of stories about polls and momentum.

The Sentinel was the most likely to run stories triggered by what the candidates were saying, and the least likely to run stories triggered inside the newsroom. It also ran the most straight news accounts, fully 60% of its coverage. Part of the explanation is that it relied more than national papers on wire copy. Still, it used fewer wires than the Cleveland Plain Dealer and generated 45% of its coverage by its own staff writers.

The New York Times

In general, the Times was much more likely to run stories that were triggered by events outside the newsroom rather than initiated as enterprise or thematic pieces from the journalists themselves. In all, 45% of its stories were triggered by decisions in the newsroom, compared with 62% at the Washington Post and 63% at USA Today.

In a similar vein, the Times was much more likely to write straight news accounts of events than the Post or USA Today. Nearly half of its stories (48%) were written as straight news, compared with 29% at the Post and 27% at USA Today.

Despite that, its coverage was also the most focused on political topics of any paper studied. Six in ten of its stories were about internal political matters like tactics and maneuvering.

The Times, interestingly, also wrote nearly twice as much about Republicans than Democrats during the two weeks studied, 51% versus 27%. Most outlets ran more stories about the GOP than the Democrats, but the Times was the only news organization to reflect such a difference.

Washington Post

If the Times tended to write about events more as straight news, and then leaven the mix with analysis, the Washington Post was the paper that came at the campaign through its own enterprise, initiating more of its coverage, doing more watchdog pieces, and focusing more on the fitness of candidates and their biographies.

Fully 62% of the Post coverage was initiated by decisions in the newsroom, rather than in reaction to outside events. Overall, 18% of the Post stories were enterprise pieces, such as long looks at the candidates' backgrounds, compared with 12% at the Times. A smaller percentage of the Post stories were straight analysis pieces, 14% versus 18% at the Times, and 28% at USA Today.

Fully 5% of the Post stories were watchdog efforts, compared with less than one percent at all other papers. But just 29% of the Post pieces were written as straight news in the inverted pyramid style, compared with 38% for the media overall.

The Post also wrote more stories framed around candidate fitness, (18% versus 10% at the Times and 4% at USA Today. In particular, 8% of the Post pieces were framed around trying to explore the candidates core convictions, versus 3% for the press overall.

The Post opinion page, not surprisingly, also was filled with a good deal more about the campaign than was the New York Times. The Post ran 21 campaign-related Op-eds and editorials during the two weeks studied, compared with 15 in the New York Times. USA Today, by comparison, ran just two.

USA Today

The Gannett flagship paper stood out in a variety of ways. Among other matters, a smaller percentage of its stories dealt with the policy topics, just 18%, compared with 27% for all papers and 16% for broadcast.

A higher percentage of its stories dealt with voters, 10%, compared with 6% for papers generally. More of its coverage focused on how the candidates were performing on the stump in their relations with TV and the press, 14% of its stories. More of its stories were about polls and momentum, 10% versus 7% for papers generally.

It was the only news organization, print or broadcast, to do stories about the spouses or romantic relations of the candidates, and it did a fair number in those two weeks, comprising 8% of all its coverage.

A notably small number of its stories were focused on Bradley, just 6%, about half as many as other news outlets. And fewer of its stories dealt with matters that impacted on citizens than any other paper, just 4%.

USA Today was also the least likely newspaper to write straight or inverted pyramid accounts of the news, 27% of its stories, versus 41% for papers generally.

While the paper wrote little about policy, it was slightly more likely to frame stories explicitly as policy explorations, 6% of its pieces, roughly double those of papers generally.

And USA Today was the most likely of any paper to frame stories explicitly about tactics and strategy, a full 33% of its stories, versus 21% for papers generally.

Cleveland Plain Dealer

The Cleveland daily was much more likely than others to cover larger issues about the electorate and the process, 19% of its coverage versus 13% for print overall. The paper was noticeably more negative, more than any outlet studied, 42% versus 24% for all outlets studied. Like the Orlando Sentinel, it was also more likely than the national papers to run straight news accounts. In most respects, however, the Plain Dealer coverage appeared typical.