Analyzing the War of Words
March 7, 2008 by Diane Thieke
Obama advisor Samantha Power has resigned after calling Clinton a monster. But this is only the latest verbal firestorm, coming a day after a Clinton advisor drew a comparison between Obama and independent counsel Kenneth Starr.
Mudslinger, anyone? Well, what do we expect? This is politics in America.
Interestingly, my colleagues have put together some media analysis around the campaign using Dow Jones Insight, which helps public relations professionals understand how issues that relate to their organization are being discussed in the media.
This week’s results examine the ratio of positive media coverage to negative. Although our research shows that there was a slight increase in positive coverage, unfavorable media coverage still dominates. If I were a campaign strategist looking at these charts, I’d be wondering how to get out of the mudpit and flip the ratio. Think about it: If I truly wanted to differentiate my candidate, how could I change my communications strategy to increase the percentage of favorable coverage?
