NBC.com - Election Social Media Reaction

By: Rob Schreier
schreierama@gmail.com
@rob_schreier

Traditional avenues of post election polling make way: major news networks are turning to social media venues in order to gather their audience's thoughts about the candidates on election night.

Despite Barack Obama's re-election over a week ago, the social media guage, posted below, is an innovate way to articulate the public feelings and topics of discussion on both Facebook and Twitter.

Remains included on front page of NBC Politics main webpage, 8 days after conclusion of election (Courtesy: NBC.com)

Numbers Never Lie

There are several ways to dive into the numbers, but one has to start with the overall metrics before navigating to the percentages and ratios.

Courtesy: benread.com

Of the social media posts monitored, over 97 percent came from Twitter compared to Facebook. As Twitter has become more and more popular, especially with live coverage of events, it has surpassed Facebook in terms of "updating status." This serves as more evidence that Facebook is, and must continue to, present other avenues of communication other than text elements to create interaction.

President Obama was also mentioned in nearly 10,000 more tweets than Romney, making the Democratic incumbent clearly more popular on the social media platforms. Democratic voters, which has shown to grab the youth vote, is evidence in that statistic alone.

The most dramatic spikes on the time graph to the right of the data collection represented the three debates and election night itself, said to be the most active night in US political history. It is interesting to note in a graphical form the concentration of social media conversation/observation during this anticipated political race created.

Lighten Up

More tweets entering the fold were of negative tone or light, regardless of candidate.

Additionally, the specific topics of talk are aimed at personal attacked, highlighted by Romeny's Mormon beliefs. But, Barack did not escape either. Labeling the President as "corrupt/autocratic" seems a popular choice post election. But, back to Romney, he seems "out of touch" according to those monitored by the NBC poll.

This election was often described as picking from the lesser of two evils, and the findings from this indeed prove that notion. 

Future in Mind

The social media postings also seem to highlight actions from President Obama to tackle in his first days in office, including: Gas prices, fixing the economy, and health care.

Economy is #1 (Courtesy: http://economiccrisis.us)

Especially from the point of view from the President, these actions were aimed at the individual level from the social media users. But, these issues were the most important heading into the election (with the economy being the primary front runner).

When the individual joins with the masses and shares a voice, many went to their computers or mobile devices and joined the social media party while devouring election coverage.

As the dust settles, NBC dug deeper to further investigate a fascinating aspect of journalism that continues to rapidly unfold. 

NBC.com - "Barnburner" Campaign Day...Maybe

By Rob Schreier
schreierama@gmail.com
@rob_schreier

News and notes from the final moments of campaign speeches, flag waving, and polling with the next President of the United States to be named tomorrow night.

Both candidates are making final ditch efforts to rouse voters to their side in key swing states of Ohio, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

However, with a "down to the wire" finish, the details are what counts.

NBC political writer Michael Isikoff details four nightmare scenarios that could unfold tomorrow that could essentially waste the efforts of millions of dollars and months of work because of recent events, highlighted by Hurricane Sandy.

Hey Sandy Girl

Hurricane Sandy Destruction (Courtesy of Business Week)

There's nothing like a natural disaster one week before one of the most important elections in our lifetime to throw a wrench into the gears of the political system.

Devastation, displacement, and disgust now rule the landscape on the East Coast, specifically in New Jersey, where over 240 political polling centers were out of commission from reports over the weekend.

This has left the Garden State in a tangle with determining alliterative voting locations. However, all of the potential solutions have flaws and outcry from political sides on either isle.

No matter the case, the voting numbers from the areas that are affected by Sandy and the aftermath will be discussed and analyzed like the 2000 election battleground in Florida and the "hanging chads."

Provisional Problems

Absentee Ballots - where are you? (Courtesy of Phillyburbs.com)

Current swinger state Ohio has a major problem with provisional absentee ballots that could delay the official results of the largest determinant for the presidential winner.

Close to 300,000 absentee ballots have not been accounted for as a result from all the absentee ballots being sent out to 6.9 million voters, regardless of whether or not they requested their ballots.

This leaves major questions and doubt at the polls for those who have not sent the ballots in. Either, they must put their votes in the mail today or make it to their respective precinct Tuesday. To that end, if these folks decide to vote on election day, there is the issue of "double voting."

What's more is according to Ohio law, these votes will not be counted until Nov. 16, 10 days after the election.

Put it this way, it could be worse that Twilight being released a week after it was supposed to hit book shelves.

Finding Frauders

A hotly debated topic has been the application of voter fraud laws in key battleground state of Pennsylvania and Texas.

Heck, Let your voice REALLY be hear! (Courtesy of NBC.com)

The polling locations themselves are in jeopardy to some degree, so much to the point that there is discussion of any "safe" polling locations at all?

Lack of paper trail, political sects causing chaos trying to avoid fraud, "butterfly" ballots...it's frankly overwhelming.

The biggest fear of yours truly, already being caught in the barrage of the Ohio election magnifying glass, is having the race drag on fueled by controversy.

Brace yourself for these situations, and let's hope that nitrogen stays out of the tomorrow night's political fire.

MSNBC-TV - Rachel Maddow Unleashed Ultimate Fact Check

By: Robert Schreier
schreierama@gmail.com
@rob_schreier

NBC's sister television station MSNBC caught my attention this week via an in-depth report by Rachel Maddow, a left leaning news talk personality and host of the Rachel Maddow Show.

With the barrage of campaign ads scattered across all forms of media, Maddow capitalized on proximity of the 2012 Presidential Election to examine the content of the messages out of Govenor Mitt Romney's camp (indeed examining what both President Barak Obama and Romney "approve" at the conclusion of each gashing ad).

The video (below) is damning evidence of a persistent pattern of lies and miscontextualization on the half of the Republican presidential hopeful.



While this complete blitz, that encompassed a full 10 minutes to fully articulate, could be seen as a liberal personality on a liberal leaning television station simply shooting par on a midweek program, this is evidence that has not been featured on NBC programs before and should be credited.

These investigative elements are missing when many undecided voters are making their voting decisions with the clock ticking to the general election.

It also ushers in questions of the political press being marginalized by social media outlets.

Digging Deep (Through Packing Peanuts)

Maddow begins with the blanketing story of Romney saying that his campaign removes and changes all incorrect facts or statements with the utmost transparency.


The MSNBC host continues by detailing that this is a normal action by the campaign; however, Maddow uses multiple example of specific facts that are false in Romney ad campaigns or speeches.

It all starts with a misapplication of a quote used by Obama saying that, "If we keeping talking about the economy, we are going to lose."

Obama did say that, but if you listen to the full quotation, the President was talking in terms of the John McCain presidential race in 2008.




What's more troubling is the fact that the video in question is still unedited and included on the official Mitt Romney YouTube channel, regarded as one of the most viewed mediums in this 2012 political season.

By the end, she highlights over 10 examples of misquotes, wrong facts, and other blunders.

In reality, there is not much digging to do on the part of Maddow because the Romney party has not done its part in removing these videos, even after Maddow has slashed the party days later. (It should be noted the investigative report ran on Wednesday September 26 with the YouTube search completed for this report coming Sunday September 30).

After every example of the misrepresentation, there are several press clippings showing the media calling out Romney's party on his facts.

However, nothing has been done to remove or correct. Why?

No Bite in the Media Dog?

Normally, there is an element of respect, or reaction, when the press detects falsehood and lies with political.

In other words, there is usually a noticeable action in order to appease the press or to limit the damage from the viewing audience

What Maddow points out reflects a dynamic change in a fundamental role in journalism: the watchdog.

Either the Republican campaign is lazy (unlikely), unmotivated (unlikely), or untrained (unlikely) to make the corrections in the videos.

Or, what could be considered the beginning of the end for watchdog journalism, Romeny and his crew no longer care about the press calling him out.

It begs the question, is there research or facts to back up that the new voting community no longer trusts or relies upon the press so that whatever is posted on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, or the newest social media application is THE TRUTH?

While this certainly was not the intention of Maddow's report, the debate now begins whether there is a clear dismissal of one of the pillars that has held journalism upright from the beginning of the craft.

NBC.com - Political Powerpoints Reveal Power in Republican Camp

By Robert Schreier

schreierama@gmail.com

@rob_schreier

Much of the class discussion last week surrounded covering the issues versus the "horse race" between the candidates in the 2012 Presidential Election.

What was not included in this debate was feature or "in-depth" pieces that allow the audience to go behind the curtain or to raise the level of interest in niche elements in the election season.

NBC.com allowed its online readers to go inside the mind of Republican Vice President candidate Paul Ryan's presentation style, opening up discussion for its impact in other aspects of the race and the inter-workings his camp.

Slide Man

The article details that Ryan turned back to old practices of using a PowerPoint presentation during his speeches to better communicate with his audiences.

The Wisconsin congressman used four slides to visually aid his speech to a crowd at the University of Central Florida Friday to help demonstrate the problems with the nation’s debt and how spending has changed under President Barack Obama.

Evidence from earlier news reports confirm that Ryan has used the Microsoft Office application before to help aid his points for a controversial budget overhaul plan that has been largely criticized in his home state of Wisconsin.

NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams featured a report on his radical economic plans back in April of 2011. Please see the embedded video for the full report from April 26, 2011 on the NBC news program.

Behind the Curtain

Reports surfaced Friday that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney camp discouraged Ryan to ditch his trademark visual aid during presentations and "town hall" meetings. 

Reports say Mitt is orchestrating Ryan's campaign trail
messages (Courtesy: AP Photo) 

This is an effort in part to have Ryan serve as a "mini Mitt" as the election day draws near so that more of the voters can get a better sense of what the presidential hopeful's policies will represent.

In fact, this includes more public appearances and a shifting of presentation style to reflect Romney's talking points that are far different than what is in Ryan's wheel house: this new budget plan.

Implications

It is indeed a small change, but NBC does highlight a concern by the Republican party that the time to strike is now in delivering policy and presidential promises rather than continue to hammer home a budget plan that has drawn heavy criticism from both sides of isle.

NBC must be commended in their coverage to highlight this small detail of the campaign trail in its surfacing of the Romney/Ryan campaign anxiousness to swing the popular vote in a "dead heat" race with 5 weeks remaining.

While this story will not be talked about at the water cooler Monday morning, or will it be featured on the Daily Show, but is does illustrate the backstage activities in the Romney/Ryan push for November.

Kudos to NBC in their coverage of this story as voter begin to realize the clock is ticking for their decision on the next President of the United States.

We now know that Ryan has put away his PowerPoint clicker and brought out heavy hitting policy points.

NBC-TV: Meet the Press Goes Mobile

By Rob Schreier
schreierama@gmail.com
@rob_schreier

With the conventions complete, two presidential hopefuls hit the road for crucial "swing states" to try and convince voters to get on their bandwagon.

NBC's popular news program Meet the Press with David Gregory took that one extra step and joined Massachusetts Governor and Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney on his tour bus through New Hampshire.

A candid, distraction-less, well-guided interview with Gregory allowed voters to have an up-front profiling of Romney, his policies, and his wife, Ann.

The Set Up

A casual backdrop for this exclusive interview provided a much clearer, more precise view into Romney's current state; that is, wrapping up the convention season, previewing the "winning" stretch until election day, and some insight on his family life.

Gregory with Romney, free of distractions in a
candid interview (screenshot from NBC.com)

Gregory was accompanied by two cameras on the Romney bus with Mitt and Ann sitting side-by-side. It felt like a "stripping down" of the bells and whistles of the campaign speeches, convention platforms, the campaign posters, and yes, teleprompters.

Gregory fired away with deep-digging questions that prompted Romney to defend or champion his campaign strategy and policies.

The most noticeable aspect aesthetically from the interview was that it was just the cameras, the Romneys, and Gregory.

No sidebars with stock prices, no ticker showing international news, no BREAKING NEWS alerts.

Just content from the interview.

It made it much easier to follow in a time where we, the viewers, can create distractions enough on our own.

The Content

The questions began with job creation and President Barack Obama's current policies to try and stimulate job growth in America.

What would Romney/Ryan's bumper sticker slogan be?
Courtesy: dailykos.com

Romney, allowed all the time needed to fully articulate his answers, spoke clearly against the President's policies and added that Americans "have a simple choice" to reverse declining job rates and wages by voting on his side.

While talk of jobs was on the front of mind in the first 4-5 minutes, Gregory prepared well for the interview, bringing forward a variety of challenging prompts.

A bumper sticker showing "Bin Laden is Dead, GM is Alive" allowed Romney to comment and to speculate if campaign had a similar bumper sticker what the slogan might be.

Additionally, the much debated Clint Eastwood speech during the Republican National Convention in Tampa was addressed, although Mitt danced around the answer with many pirouettes saying the Hollywood cowboy was a pleasant RNC addition.

"We Know What it Feels Like to Struggle"

Finally, some light was directed to Ann to answer an element of the Romney campaign that has been a point of attack from liberals: the Governor's ability to share an appreciation for the struggles of the American people.

Whether this questions was prompted or "squeezed" from the Romney camp, it did allow Ann Romney to share her personal struggles with multiple sclerosis and how it has taught her and the Romney family about caring for others in struggle.

Ann did not hide behind the fact that her family has experienced financial struggles, but it did shed light on another aspect of struggle.

With healthcare being a negative aspect of the current Obama administration, I am positive Romney's campaign had to be thrilled with the answer delivered and how the question was "spun" positively.

Below is the excerpt from NBC's Meet the Press.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

"I Gotta Feeling" we're watching infotainment.

Keara Vickers

keara.vickers@gmail.com

On a day in which the National Debt surpassed $16 trillion, CNN’s Democratic National Convention’s opening day coverage was more focused on hyping Michelle Obama’s speech than asking the hard questions.

Although I can’t too much blame CNN for its lackluster reporting when those speaking (and I’m looking at you Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel) are willing to admit in live interviews that they’ve “never read [their] party’s platform.”

In a race defined by hard-hitting economic issues, there seems to be little focus on tough stories and more of a fixation on whether or not he got misty-eyed during Michelle’s speech.

CNN’s broadcasting coverage of the DNC focused mainly on the speeches in the raw, and without much commentary during or after, which is commendable. But, after Michelle Obama left the stage to raucous applause there was a truly questionable moment in which will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas had a bafflingly long interview bookended by Wolf Blitzer’s painful references to “tonight’s going to be a good, good night” from BEP’s “I Gotta Feeling.” 

In other news: The sky is blue.

Call me melodramatic, but I have some real issues with calling up sub-par pop stars to comment when Gitmo still has prisoners, the NDAA exists and drone strikes are a common occurrence in modern American warfare.

In general, CNN’s political blog has more fluff than Bo the White House dog. If your kind of hard-hitting questions are “Is Paul Ryan lying about his marathon time,” and astonishing headlines like “Dems back platform differing from GOP,”  (See left) then maybe CNN is working for the right demographic. For me, though, I’d prefer that my political news rests far, far away from a front page that also features “Honey Boo Boo: The New Queen of TV.”

#RNC: The Way Twitter is Covering #election2012

Sandhya Kambhampati 
sjkambhampati@gmail.com
@sandhya__k

What makes this #election different from the others?

In 140 words or less: 

Someone that doesn’t have cable (like myself) can live stream from @YouTubePolitics  & watch Twitter: getting full media coverage.

The best way I’ve found to do this is #RNC search or  use Muckrack . Social media this election season is catching the young voters' eyes and it's not surprising why.

This week, I decided to take a closer look at  how @jimacostacnn  and @ethanklapper covered #rnc. Both of these reporters used Instagram, links to their prospective media outlets, videos, photos, commentary, and quotes.

Source:https://twitter.com/jimacostacnn

So why did I follow @jimacostacnn ?

I liked how Acosta gave his perspective from the RNC by tweeting that people were chanting because in my live stream I couldn't tell what they were saying. While I was listening the RNC coverage, I loved that I could not only gather the key points from the speeches, but also see his perspective as a correspondent and know about some parts of the convention that they don't necessarily air on the live stream such as the exact facial expressions of the Romney family.

My personal favorite: his usage of Instagram to show his followers exactly where he was in the audience.

Source: https://twitter.com/jimacostacnn 

Klapper, unlike Acosta had a different way of tweeting during the #RNC.  While he still tweeted quotes, I looked to his Twitter feed for humor.  His coverage allowed me to understand the speeches, but also feel as if I was right there with him, cracking jokes.  I also found it ironic when my stream froze and he also had the same problem. 

Source: https://twitter.com/ethanklapper

Overall,  both of these reporters have provided me with just a small part of my complete Twitter #election coverage. I've got my Twitter feed ready for complete access to the good, the bad and the photos and videos of both parties. 

Do you? Tweet @sandhya__k and let me know who you're following. 

NBC.com - The Social Media Story of the DNC

By: Rob Schreier
schreierama@gmail.com
@rob_schreier

In a new media environment that feasts on immediacy, simplicity, and exclusivity, NBC.com discovered a tool that morphed Tuesday night's opening act of the Democratic National Convention into a Twitter timeline.

An "as it happens" approach to covering all angles of the event, it provides more details and greater intimacy to the parties involved in the DNC to create a more interactive experience on the web.

Credit: Anthony Quintano's Twitter Page

How Does It Work?

The user can follow along with the coverage from multiple NBC.com political corespondents, the candidates and political figures, as well as party followers attending the event. 

Using the hashtag "#nbcpolitics2012," the website creator was able to sort through various avenues of the coverage to get a full political palate. The timeline brings in the viewer at home who consumes two mediums at once.

The one uniform element throughout the conglomeration of stories, pictures, videos, quotes, instant analysis, and critique is the use of NBC political tags and personnel to create a bridge of trust an uniformity.

Credit: Mayor Julian Castro's Twitter Page

This builds a media brand that political consumers can trust going forward, and could potentially be a tool that could provide them an edge in hits over other competing new outlets.

Digging Deeper

Once NBC has captured the initial interest of the audience, there is room for expansion of content marriage with the consumer after the experience.

The beauty of using Twitter primarily for the original sources of the "timeline" is users already using the social media engine to interact during the experience have the chance to engage with the "creators" of the content.

For example, when Chuck Todd tweeted "First major contrast between this keynote and Christie's: Castro mentioned "Obama" 2 mins in. Christie waited over 15 min for "Romney," it allows the reader to click on Todd's profile, which can be used as a tool to further the experience of the reader beyond the single event.

Going Forward

The unfair advantage NBC.com has created is the first social media consumption process that I have witnessed in this form. One can simply pursue the important information from the top political analysts, look at every twitpic that Michelle Obama posts, or simply pick out personal highlights and move on. 

The main objective that NBC.com has created is the universal appeal and simplicity of the medium to communicate with its followers. 

It is also corresponding with simultaneous showing of Twitter usage during the extended post-event coverage on its sister TV station, MSNBC. By showing this on the television, it creates that bridge between digesting any political story with TV and Twitter using one or the other....or both.
  

Do We Really Want to Be "Better Off?"

          

Seaira Christian-Daniels (Athens,OH)

seaira.daniels@gmail.com

  Political camps from the left and right battle over a short phrase that has wiggled its way into the election spotlight: “Are you better off?” It’s a phrase that both President Barack Obama and Commander-in-Chief hopeful Mitt Romney compete to answer. Both say a presidency under their lead will make Americans “better off,” and carry them further ahead  out of Bush—or Obama—policies of old. Ironically, that phrase comes from Ronald Regan’s  campaign from 1980, says NPR’s Mark Memmott.  Should a slowly antiquating phrase be the center of such progressive plans?

            NPR news surveyed 2,852 of their audience; sixty- seven percent of NPR.com survey participants state that they are better off than they were four years ago, and nearly 15 percent say their situation has not changed.  So, are we really concerned solely with being better off? Or, is there a deeper concern that has been terribly misstated and overstated time and again this election season?  If many people are either better off or the same as they were before Obama became President, the larger issue, as stated by NPR’s “The Morning Edition” host Mara Liasson,  is whether or not Barak Obama can make the economy progress as fast as he inspired voters to believe he could in 2008.

Change in 2008

            Obama’s 2008 campaign tag-words , “Hope” and “Change” excited politically inactive Americans everywhere last election. Young voters headed en masse to voting centers incited by celebrities urging Americans to “Respect their Votes.” Many followed, but seemingly few actually understood the changes their ballots would make amid the starry dreams.  In a four-year span, President Obama removed our troops from Iraq, reformed health care, bailed out the auto industry, and dethroned Osama Bin Laden. Those were big changes, to say the least. But when the smoke cleared and tragedies quelled,  voters, once again, wanted to know not only if they were "better off"--or more wealthy than they were when Obama took office--but can they trust his way of fixing their economic problems?

            Here is the truth. In our free market economy, the unemployment rate will never be zero percent. Some people will struggle, and inevitably, monetary income will limit the opportunities of some Americans.   The matter at hand is now: Can Obama keep making us hope? Or are we ready to try someone else’s vision on for size?

The Daily Show: Reports from Tampa

Leah Petrovich
lp183908@ohio.edu

The Daily Show didn't have to search hard for a scene to mock from the Republican National Convention last week in Tampa. Last Thursday, Clint Eastwood, the five time Academy Award winner, gave an unconventional speech to the roaring crowd of republicans. I say unconventional because it was impromptu, and was also difficult to follow. He claimed an empty chair to be President Obama, and spoke back and forth with the invisible president throughout the speech. Needless to say, this was a main laughing point for Jon Stewart. The only thing I took away from the movie star's speech was that he thinks a business man should be president, not a lawyer.

Eastwood at the RNC on August 30.  Photo courtesy of Poynter.org

You can view the The Daily Show from August 31st here.

In this episode, Stewart talked about how quickly people jumped to bash Obama after he took office. A few analysts were making negative comments just 8 days after his inauguration. Stewart joked that we only waited an entire Hanukkah for Obama to succeed. He pointed out that we all blame one man for all of the problems in the world. It always falls on the President.

I think I learn more about the candidates and the election from Stewart than I do from conventional news sources. With The Daily Show, it's all inclusive. Although it usually is all a mockery, all political parties are presented and the most popular issues are discussed. Stewart plays devil's advocate, and provides angles not commonly talked about in traditional mediums. However, I'm not sure I'm convinced that The Daily Show is a credible source of news. If Stewart considers himself a journalist, shouldn't he be concerned with balancing his stories and fairly presenting the subjects' stories? I'm going to be investigating more about how Stewart covers the election and the techniques he uses to provide his viewers with information. Leave a comment and tell me what you think.