Trends in Hillary Clinton Coverage Around the Midterms

Trends in Hillary Clinton Coverage Around the MidtermsA Study of Traditional and Online News, as Well As Social Channels

PRESENTED BY: Group 3DATE: 12.9.2014

DANIEL FOWLER GABRIELA

TORRES-SOLER

Graduation: Summer 2015

SINETRA

BOWDRYKRISTIN

OBERLANDER

Graduation: Spring 2016 Graduation: Fall 2015 Graduation: Fall 2014

2

Communications Research – Fall 2014

3

A definite 2016 contender

HEADLINE: After Drubbing, All Eyes on Hillary Clinton

-- Maggie HabermanPOLITICO

Midterm elections are a major news

event. Democrats took a beating. People

don’t like President Obama. Hillary was a

very active campaigner this year. People

expect Hillary will run for president in

2016.

Source: Dennis Van Tine/AP

“If I want to knock a story off the

front page, I just change my

hairstyle.”

-- HILLARY CLINTON

5

A quick review of the presentation

Timeline

1) METHODOLOGY

2) METRICS

3) TRENDS

4) RECOMMENDATIONS

5) CONCLUSION

6

How did we find it?

7

Factiva, by the numbers

October 21 – November 18

(2 weeks before and after 2014 midterm elections)

Major U.S. Business and News

POLITICO

Not WashingtonPost.com (duplicates

paper copy)

Photo Credit: Flickr.com/Lance

8

How did we characterize it?

9

An analysis of many categories

1) The basics (author, Clinton as a

candidate, etc.)

2) Digging deeper (positive, negative,

neutral, in between?)

3) Favorability rating involved a language

analysis

We’ve come to a fork

in the road…

10

Positive: “All of us at Vogue look forward to putting on

the cover the first female President of the United

States.” – Oct. 29, (New York) Daily News article

Negative: “Republicans hope to run against Clinton

given what (RNC chairman Reince) Priebus said was

her lackluster performance helping candidates in 2014.”

– Nov. 7, Christian Science Monitor article

Grey Areas: “And to all the sexist pundits who

pontificate about whether Hillary ‘will be able to run for

president and be a grandmother at the same time’ or if

the grandmother status will ‘soften her image,’ I say

please.” – Nov. 9, Denver Post article

Photo Credit: Flickr.com/MoDOTPhotos

11

What did we see?

12

Most articles referred to her as a 2016 contender

70% of articles in this time period mentioned Hillary

Clinton as a presidential candidate, whereas 30% did

not.

Hillary Clinton Presidential Mentions

121

51

Yes

No

13

Before, During, or After Election Day

By and large, the articles focused on Clinton’s

campaigning before midterms, and her status

afterward.

Publication Date of Article

Before Election (10/21-11/3)

On Election (11/4)

After Election (11/5-11/18)

Unknown

14

Those favorable to a Hillary 2016 run

Photo Credit: Associated Press

Robert Schroeder, “Market Watch” – Positive

Example Quote: "Wall Street bankers … by and large

badly want the former secretary of state and ex-New

York senator to be president"; “Clinton is a pragmatic

problem-solver not prone to populist rhetoric"; Wall

Street isn't shy about coming out for Clinton"

Maggie Haberman, POLITICO – Positive/Neutral

Example Quote: "There were knowing references from

some patrons who told her they wanted to support her

again. She laughed and kept going, or asked people to

keep their focus on Tuesday’s vote. Others were people

she’d worked with in the past, like union leaders, who

she greeted warmly.”

James Freeman, The Wall Street Journal – Negative

Example quote: "But the Warren rhetoric has now

been exceeded by Mrs. Clinton’s absurd argument that

businesses don’t create jobs."

Jennifer Rubin, The Washington Post – Negative

Example quote: "But in either event, she lacks

conviction, the belief in something for which she is

willing to defend on principle even against the wishes of

her base. "

Peter Nicholas, The Wall Street Journal – Negative

Example Quote: "Liberals are casting about for a

committed populist to run against her in 2016. They see

the former secretary of state and senator as too closely

aligned with large corporations and question whether

she can be counted on to narrow the income gap in

America."15

Those campaigning against a Hillary 2016 run

Photo credit: Associated Press

16

17

Monitoring online conversations

After the “corporations don’t create jobs” comment,

Fox News had the most shares, beating liberal blog

Politicus USA by 20k shares, in the selected time

period.

Fox News had 64,216 shares, the

majority of which were on Facebook..

Politicus USA had 43,049 shares on a

positive article about Clinton and Warren

campaigning together.Photo credit: Buzzsumo, 2014

18

October 26, 2014

“Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s

corporations and businesses that create

jobs.” (The Washington Post) Photo credit: BuzzSumo, 2014

19

Pew Research Journalism Project

Observations

LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES HAVE

DIFFERENT MEDIA CONSUMPTION HABITS

» Consistent liberals trust 28 of 36 news outlets.

» More likely to follow issue-based groups, rather than

political parties or candidates in their Facebook feeds.

» They follow government and political news very

closely, and are more likely to be a news source for

friends.

AnalysisGO TO WHERE LIBERALS TEND TO

DWELL AND MEET THEM IN THAT

SPACE.

47%

44%

According to Pew Research, consistent

conservatives see more Facebook posts

in line with their views, versus 32% of

consistent liberals. Conservatives tend to

rely solely on Fox News.

Consistent liberals are more likely to

block others on social media because of

politics. They are less unified in their

media loyalty, relying on NPR and the

New York Times most often.

CONCLUSION

Democrats have greater variety of online and traditional media news sources to pitch stories and be heard.

20

Review & wrap up

21

Where to go from here…

Lay the groundwork for a relationship. Give them exclusives and offer

information in any way that you can to help them do their job more easily.

They will be your most important line of defense in debunking false

information.

Observations

GET IN TOUCH WITH

REPORTERS WHO ARE

YOUR ALLIES

Implications

Hillary Clinton needs to develop and begin telling a coherent story about the

economy that explains what Democrats have “done right, connects with

people’s current displeasure, and shows a way forward.” (The Washington

Post, Nov. 11)

CONNECT WITH VOTERS’

DISPLEASURE ON ECONOMY

Social media only amplifies bad stories, and your enemies have a vast

network. The good news is, so do you. Monitor your outposts to find

emerging issues and address them swiftly before they gain momentum and

make it to mainstream media outlets.

DON’T FORGET ONLINE

CONVERSATIONS

THANK YOU!