report | Nov 9, 2006

Which Polls Had it Right?

The final tally from the mid-term election is in—you know the poll in which people actually vote—and the media polls can now be graded. With each election, there are more media outlets, and more polls. Usually, the polls begin to converge as election day nears. This year, the polls varied widely. How did they stack up against the actual vote?

report | Nov 7, 2006

We’re Ready to Project …

As 11 p.m. neared on November 7 and the networks were about to sign off, NBC projected the Democrats would take control of the House though the results of many races were still out. It soon had company. In the next 21 minutes, all the networks and cable channels made their calls as well on what was still a fairly fluid map. This was the most the networks would do on a difficult night.

report | Nov 3, 2006

A Closer Look at Plunging Circulation

The new numbers released this week were bad enough for a newspaper industry that lost nearly 3% of its circulation in the last year. But when you factor in subscriber discounts, the economic picture gets worse. And the industry’s efforts to compensate for decreasing circulation with increasing online readership may not stand up to scrutiny.

report | Oct 25, 2006

Few Runs, Few Hits, Fewer Viewers

Baseball's Fall Classic has not been a hit with TV viewers in recent years. In the last 20 years World Series ratings have fallen by more than 50% so that it now only averages one quarter of the audience of the Super Bowl. And through two games, the 2006 Series is the lowest-rated ever.

report | Oct 16, 2006

All the President’s Pressers

President Bush's second term has brought a big increase in the number of solo press conferences. Bush had only had 17 in his first term but looks like he's on the way to doubling that number in this four-year stint. The president still lags behind previous White House residents, but the change suggests a different approach to the press.

report | Oct 12, 2006

Brave New World

A media conference featuring a futuristic video and a keynote address from a BBC official sketched out a scenario for news delivery that may be just around the corner. But will the proliferation of citizen journalists and wireless news platforms create its own set of financial and credibility problems for the journalism profession?

report | Oct 12, 2006

Papers Hope to Sell Print + Online Readers to Advertisers

Sandwiched between a declining print industry and an online universe still building economic momentum, newspaper companies are looking at combined Internet and newsprint readership as a new way of measuring audience. A big unanswered question is whether advertisers will agree that this is a more accurate way to count their potential customers.

report | Oct 6, 2006

The American Journalist

A new book surveying more than 1,000 journalists finds their politics have drifted a bit to the right since the 1990s, but they still remain more liberal than the general US population. With a majority of the public accusing news outlets of political bias, these numbers aren’t likely to silence that noisy debate.

report | Oct 5, 2006

The American Newsroom

A newly released book based on four decades of surveys of US journalists finds a profession that is steadily growing grayer, but lagging behind when it comes to integrating women and minorities into the newsroom. This demographic stagnation may well be a reflection of a mainstream media beset by a series of economic woes.

report | Oct 2, 2006

Bloggers Hit the Campaign Trail at What Cost?

Many of those in the blogosphere see themselves as watchdogs arrayed against an insular political establishment dominated by consultants, interests groups, and the mainstream media. But with bloggers taking an increasingly active role in some of the key 2006 political races, are they sacrificing that independence to become part of the system they decry?

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