White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

  • Home
  • About
  • WHC Garden Brunch
  • Washington Insider
  • Archives
  • Contact

Pew: News Media Focuses on Trump’s Character More than Policy

October 3, 2017 By WHC Insider

Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

A new study released by Pew Research Center showed that nearly three-fourths of all stories on President Donald Trump during his first 100 days in office focused on his character and leadership skills instead of policy issues.

“Coverage was much more likely to be framed around Trump and the administration’s leadership and character than around policy,” Pew wrote.

Compared to past presidencies, policy-centered news accounted for 31 percent of all stories regarding Trump, with higher numbers during the starts of prior administrations Obama (50 percent), George W. Bush (65 percent) and Clinton (58 percent).  Stories were deemed “positive” if it had at least twice as many positive as negative statements, with the reverse true for negative stories.

“[T]he evaluations of Trump were far more negative and less positive than those of his predecessors,” the study notes.

The study pointed out five topics dominating coverage of the administration.  These topics ranged from the president’s political skills (17 percent of stories) to immigration (14 percent), presidential nominations and appointments (13 percent), Russia (13 percent) and health care (9 percent).

Articles and stories from right-leaning news outlets tended to be more sympathetic to the President, while left-leaning platforms leaned more negatively in their reporting perspective.  Left-leaning or neutral outlets also were more likely than right-leaning to “fact-check” or refute the President and administration, adding to their negative ratings in the study.

“Stories with a greater mix of voices were more likely to have an overall negative sense of the president’s actions or statements,” concluded Pew’s director of journalism research Amy Mitchell.

Additionally, Pew found that right-leaning news outlets “cite fewer source types – including fewer experts, issue groups and the administration.”  These news organizations “were roughly one-fourth as likely as outlets with a left-leaning audience to cite at least one outside expert in their stories (5% compared with 22%) and about one-third as likely to do so as outlets with a more mixed audience (16%).  Right-leaning media outlets also were half as likely as left-leaning or neutral groups to cite both Democratic and Republican politicians in the same story (7% versus 14%).

While some may read this study as evidence of media bias against the Trump administration, Mitchell warns against drawing any conclusion of the type from the study.  “It is speaking about, from the public’s perspective, what is the overall evaluation of the particular event that is being discussed in this news story related to Trump and the administration,” she said.

You may review the study by Pew Research Center by clicking here.

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on Pinterest

Filed Under: Donald Trump, Media Strategy, News, News Media, The White House

2022 WHC Garden Brunch

Search WHCInsider

About White House Correspondents Insider

Exploring “behind the scenes” of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

We track the White House Correspondents’ weekend and all the activities around it, from journalists and media companies to the White House and politicos.

Tammy Haddad is Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief of WHC Insider and CEO of Haddad Media.

White House Correspondents Insider is not affiliated with or approved by the White House Correspondents’ Association, which is a registered trademark of the WHCA.

Cone of Silence Podcast

WHCA Seating Chart

Connect

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Flickr
  • Apple
  • Google
  • Instagram

Instagram

We're still reminiscing about the 2022 White House Correspondents' #GardenBrunch. Thank you, John McCarthy, Elizabeth Milias, Liz Johnson, and the UK's embassy's Senay Bulbul for joining us in supporting the media and our military veterans!
Thank you, Susan Wojcicki, Alexandra Veitch and Craig Newmark for your support of the 2022 White House Correspondents' #GardenBrunch!
Karine Jean-Pierre will replace outgoing Jen Psaki as #WhiteHouse Press Secretary on May 13, President Biden announces. Seen here at the @paramountco #WHCD #paramountafterparty
Members of the media and the administration came together to shine a light on the work of journalists and our military veterans at the 2022 White House Correspondents’ #GardenBrunch. Thank you, @tonydokoupil @jenrpsaki and @gayleking for your support! #WHCD2022 #WHCD #WHCA
We’re so grateful to the FLEX Association for their support of the 2022 #GardenBrunch. #WHCD2022 #WHCD #WHCA
Thank you to #AngelaDalton and #PeterMauric of the @web3foundation (pictured here with Alexander Vindman and daughter) for your support of the 2022 #GardenBrunch.

Copyright © White House Correspondents Insider

 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.