NYTimes.Com: A Left Leaning Political Dance

Kaitlyn Crist

Kaitlyn_Crist@gmail.com

@Kaitlyn_Crist
A Big Push "Forward"

Last week, the New York Times officially endorsed President Barack Obama for a second term as the President of the United States.

The New York Times endorsement for President Obama

This is a big endorsement, seeing as the Times is the longest-running national newspaper, and the biggest of a dying breed.

This got me wondering about NYTimes.com coverage overall, and if it was as left leaning as its endorsement.

Overall (at least in the journalism world) is always considered a slightly more liberal newspaper, but nothing of MSNBC proportions. 

To back this up, an interactive (interactive!!!) article shows that NYT hasn't endorsed a Republican candidate since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956.

Do Headlines Convey More than Story? 

As I have been observing the NYT website, I have noticed an interesting trend with the headlines of stories featuring each of the candidates.

I saw that stories featuring the President typically were middle and working-class focused.

The had a grassroots, local feel, with titles such as, "Ohio Working Class May Offer Key to Obama’s Re-election."

The latest NYT headline on Mitt Romney

On the other hand, stories featuring Romney have a more "business man" slant, portraying him as a manager, and many stories discuss him "fighting" for votes. 

Do these headline have an influence on the voter? Could it be that the Times is making President Obama look more middle-class friendly, while Romney is a upper-level manager type? 

It seems to be the case, but it is safe to say that it may not be completely intentional. 

New York Times Trust

Despite the left leans, I think for undecided voters, the Times is still the paper to trust when it comes to 2012. 

They may have a bit of leaning coverage, but it is not overt or one sided by any means.

They cover both of the candidates equally, and with just as much respect and/or scrutiny that they deserve. 

So undecided voters, go to NYTimes.com, you will not be led astray. 

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.

It's Almost Over!

Jillian Bloemer
jb351009@ohio.edu
@jillianbloemer


And it's almost here! As we head into a day of chaos tomorrow, the three news outlets I've been focusing on have had a variety of coverage over the past week. However, the coverage hasn't been all about the election... For the first time (maybe ever) there were bigger worries than the presidential election as Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, destroying everything in its path.

For the past week, the majority of coverage done by ABC World News with Diane Sawyer was primarily news about Sandy and ways to donate. With only one day left before elections, one would expect to see some sort of election headline at the top of their Facebook page; however, this is not the case.

The top post was a picture about 'A Day of Giving,' urging all those viewing it to donate to Hurricane Sandy relief.






On another note, CNN's focus was (unexpectedly) on everything election related. To my surprise, there were very few stories about Sandy and her destructive ways. Almost every story posted over the last week was regarding the upcoming presidential election. CNN's biggest story/post was a large picture with a link attached, informing its viewers that the polls were 'all tied up at 49%.'

As if they did it on purpose to help even out my blog (oh, so helpful of them), Fox News had an almost dead even amount of coverage regarding the election and Sandy. While the other news outlets focused on either one or the other, Fox did a great job of keeping its viewers updated on both issues. 

Many of the stories regarding Sandy were either human-interest-like pieces, or stories about how much damage the storm has done and what kind of things were being done to help fix the damage.

One of the more prominent stories was about the cancelation of the NYC Marathon in lieu of the hurricane. In this story, New Yorkers were criticizing Mayor Bloomberg for even thinking of focusing on the marathon, and ignoring all the chaos encircling New York City.

In almost every instance, Fox News alternated between topics.. every election story was followed by a post about Sandy, and vice-versa. I found this page to be the most informative because I could keep track of all the issues at one time.

Let's vote already!

Bradley W. Parks
bp124509@ohio.edu
@Bradley_W_Parks

The BBC continued with its hands-off coverage this week, especially in a time where another story in the United States trumped the election -- a rare feat.

Superstorm Sandy overshadowed the presidential election not just in the news, but in the candidates' campaign schedule.

It could have been a matter of just that: the candidates weren't exactly hot on the campaign trail, so there wasn't much to cover.

Oh how fun

An interesting thing I found digging through the election page on the BBC is this infographic. The interactive chart provides a lot of necessary information for the election junkie.

The graphic covers the swing states and upon clicking gives readers the number of electoral votes, a short introduction, demographic information, economic overview of the state, and the state's 2008 voting record. Here's a look at Ohio:

Late to the punch

The BBC was relatively silent all week on the U.S. Election. However, this morning, the day before the election, it posted its "last campaign day" coverage.

The collection is made of past multimedia stories with a written portion marking where the campaigns will be on Monday, the final day on the trail before the big shebang.

Final Chance to Get the News Out

Matt Digby

md313208@ohio.edu

@MDigbyOU

You know you want to shout it to the world........ "IT'S ALMOST OVER!!!"

It felt like it would never come, but sure enough, this Tuesday is Election Day, and on Wednesday, we don't have to put up with any more political ads. (Try to contain your enthusiasm!)

With that said, all major news outlets, even foreign ones, are publishing their final stories before the big night. Al Jazeera's top story on their home page is promoting a story on how Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are making their last pushes to reach the many undecided voters that remain throughout the country. And they're getting A LOT of help from volunteers:

You've probably seen multiple videos that open with a split shot of the two candidates speaking at rallies. Here's something to think about: how sick and tired must they be of going from city to city giving the same speech over and over and over?

It's nice to see Al Jazeera giving the election the coverage it deserves so close to the actual event. But I think it would have been nice to see this same kind of intensity, say, a month ago. I can't really find anything in the two videos or their article that is unique from any other news outlet.

What do you think of Al Jazeera's coverage? Do you believe the video posted is relatable to a worldwide audience?

While you're thinking about that, make sure, if you haven't done so already, to GO VOTE!!!!!

Tweeters Gearing Up for Big Day

Sandhya Kambhampati
sjkambhampati@gmail.com
@sandhya__k


As we near the big day that every one has been waiting for, tweeters are remembering past elections and flooding in with critique and their predictions on who will be the next president.
Journalists, as @vhern_ mentions in his tweet are getting prepped for a long night and a long race.

@vhern_

The race begins for the news outlet that gets the results out in the most effective way.  Right now, everyone is thinking of all the different ways that the candidates could win. In fact, @nytimes made an interactive map of the 512 different ways that President Barack Obama or Governor Romney can get voted into office. It's interesting to note how each candidate must win in each different swing state.

With all these preparations, news outlets, such as the AP are encouraging their staff from tweeting, retweeting others calls.  In my mind, this is a smart thing for the AP to note and mention on Twitter because of the way Twitter is, people may hear one thing, when the truth is actually something else.

@romenesko

With that said, it's important for not just journalists, but any tweeter to keep in mind how huge this election is and how re-tweeting the wrong information can lead to false understandings. Some journalists such as @jimacostacnn are using Twitter to reminisce on the past elections.

@jimacostacnn

Others, like @BuzzFeedAndrew are using Twitter to show exactly how much time is left in each of the polls. 

Now that the countdown is down to less than 100 hours, others like @stefanjbecket  are bracing themselves for Tuesday night.  It's going to be a long night for journalists as many are expecting this race to be a close call. It might even be another election like in 2000.

No matter what the outcome, I'm expecting my Twitter feed to be overflowing with tweets. Hopefully Twitter will not experience difficulties, as this election has been the most tweeted about election and I'm sure people will have a lot to say about the results as they start pouring in.
This tweet from  AP's @kasie got me thinking.

It's been a long journey and now there's only ONE day left till the big night. All things considered, this election will truly be one for the books. I just can't wait to see what's in store.
Like many other journalists, campaign volunteers, and the general public which has been getting bombarded with political texts, emails, and mail--- all I have left to say, as @Ari_Shapiro said: ONE! MORE! DAY!!!!

Follow me @sandhya__k on election night & let me know your thoughts! 

Election Coverage SANDYwich

Carolyn Menyes
c.menyes@gmail.com
@athousandmph

In the week before a critical presidential election, it's hard to imagine major news outlets focusing on anything else. A lead broadcast story that is something other than the campaign? Inconceivable!

But, that was before Hurricane Sandy.

The lead stories and final story on Tuesday through Friday nights were about Hurricane Sandy and its devastation on Manhattan, Staten Island and New Jersey. On average that type of story -- which ranged from flooding to relief efforts to the lack of gas and public transportation -- lasted for the entire first half of the episode.

The second segment consisted of an election story, focusing on the final few days and the campaign efforts from President Obama and Mitt Romney. There was very little investigation in these stories, just sound clips from various rallies, discussions of travel (emphasis on Ohio, of course) and what the unemployment report meant for President Obama and Romney.

The final part of these episodes focused back on Hurrican Sandy and focused on the human interest stories. New Yorkers helping out their fellow neighbors, climbing up 21 flights of stairs to do so or going from one bustling borough to another to clean up damage. These endings actually were very touching and effective, showing glimmers of hope in a time where things seem dire.

However, these episodes were actually incredibly formulaic. The typical viewer may not have even noticed the repetition, but I watched all four back-to-back, and almost found it humorous. It's like the presidential election is the meat in a delicious NYC deli pastrami sandwich, with Sandy coverage as the bread.

Yum!

As always, Brian Williams made good use of tying the election to Hurricane Sandy, albeit showcasing how New Jersey Governor Christie doesn't "give a damn" about presidential politics, emphasizing Romney's dodging of FEMA-related questions or the pausing of campaigns and turnover of a Romney campaign event to a storm relief one.

The most interesting (and relevant) package that tied together the election and the hurricane was one that focused on the polling places in affected areas.

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