An Extended Presidential Honeymoon? Coverage of Barack Obama in the New York Times during 2009 and 2010

Abstract

Content analysis of front page New York Times stories during the first and second years of the Barack Obama presidency revealed news coverage that was far more positive in tone than the norm for recent U.S. presidents, particularly with respect to foreign policy coverage. While coverage of Obama was somewhat less positive during 2010 when compared to 2009, the Obama findings overall reveal a much longer honeymoon than seen in the past. Coverage of specific problematic policy areas, like offshore drilling issues in the wake of the BP oil spill, was particularly negative. Coverage of arms control matters was very positive in tone in 2010 for Obama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.

Hail to the Chief: Using Honorifics to Refer to the President in Cable News

“…On average, every 33 days a president is in office, the number of honorifics used to refer to him in a cable news program declines by one. These results partly dovetail with Farnsworth and Lichter's (2011) findings that Obama is treated more positively than his predecessors, but they also reveal the positive treatment may not be uniform across media outlets and that even for Obama, the honeymoon rapidly erodes. The results reveal FNC is less likely in general to use an honorific when referring to a president than is CNN.…”