Politics and Policy
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Swing States Project — October 19, 2012 02:51 PM
Scare-mongering from CBS
Bad reporting on Social Security—again
The other night CBS Evening News brought forth another gloom and doom story about Social Security. Like others from the network that have come to CJR’s attention, this one sent a similar message: Social Security is in big trouble, a debatable point. And like those other stories, this one mis-characterizes the system and omits important context that leaves viewers at...
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Swing States Project — October 19, 2012 01:23 PM
How could voters still be undecided? Try asking them
Plus, why this veteran campaign correspondent is focused on swing-state polls
They may be the most publicly maligned minority group in America, a subset of the electorate that is ridiculed with impunity by everyone from TV pundits to online columnists. I am referring, of course, to the people who are the butt of the Polish jokes of this campaign cycle—undecided voters.
In late September, Saturday Night Live established the template...
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Swing States Project — October 19, 2012 11:00 AM
In Florida, debate night isn’t front-page news
Editors at Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post defend decision on Senate race coverage
FLORIDA — One of the shameful things about Florida’s US Senate race is that the two candidates, Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson and Republican challenger, Congressman Connie Mack, agreed to meet in just one debate.
That statewide television debate was Wednesday night. And while it was extensively covered by the media, I was amazed that some of the state’s newspapers did...
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Swing States Project — October 19, 2012 07:00 AM
Awash in ads in Roanoke
At WDBJ, welcome transparency and a commitment to coverage—but room for improvement, too
VIRGINIA — Much is always expected of those graced with favor.
And when you consider that Virginia television stations this year have been the beneficiaries of an unprecedented flood of political advertising dollars, the bar is set pretty high for broadcast outlets to put that money to good use.
Which begs the obvious question: What will stations do with that...
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Swing States Project — October 18, 2012 03:12 PM
The ‘Man in the Middle’ hits a healthcare Catch-22
Å family falls through a gap in Obamacare
Ever since the Great Health Reform Debate, we have kept in touch with Jeremy Devor, an engineering assistant in the farm community of Salem, IL. Devor contacted us back then and wanted to know what the health reform law would do for him. He was struggling to pay for health insurance for his wife and five children, who now range...
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Swing States Project — October 18, 2012 11:30 AM
Laurels to Politico and National Journal
For exposing the shady side of the campaign-industrial complex
Back in April, an excellent column by Walter Shapiro here at CJR urged reporters on the money-in-politics beat to display some “skepticism about the self-interested role of political insiders and campaign consultants in ballyhooing the merits of unlimited campaign spending”—both to maintain some perspective about how much that spending does to decide elections and to uphold “the rights of...
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Swing States Project — October 17, 2012 03:00 PM
In MI-11, a candidate ducks, but can’t avoid coverage
Detroit Free Press digs in to Bentivolio's background, though local outlets can do more on the money beat
MICHIGAN — Reporters covering the US congressional campaign for Michigan’s 11th district have a truly unusual story on their hands.
Former U.S. Rep. and GOP presidential candidate Thad McCotter was expected to easily extend his five-term incumbency in November. But after his troubled re-election campaign and resignation in disgrace, a little-known reindeer farmer named Kerry Bentivolio became the only Republican...
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Swing States Project — October 17, 2012 12:10 PM
Hey, big spender
Virginia’s Senate race is drawing major outside spending—Bob Perry’s million bucks included. Reporters here have more to do
VIRGINIA — A millionaire homebuilder and frequent conservative political donor from Texas has contributed $1 million to the Virginia Senate race, in support of Republican George Allen, a Federal Election Commission report released Friday shows. This, you’d think, would catch the eyes of reporters in Virginia covering the tight, expensive race between Allen and Democrat Tim Kaine (a contest that’s...
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Swing States Project — October 17, 2012 06:50 AM
When factchecking goes ‘gray’
Two Denver news outlets made similar dissections of an attack ad but arrived at not-so-similar conclusions
COLORADO — Denver’s two dominant media outlets—The Denver Post and 9NEWS KUSA television—recently conducted factchecks on a 6th Congressional District campaign ad in which incumbent Rep. Mike Coffman accuses Democratic challenger Joe Miklosi of being soft on child predators.
The ad in question is one of many in this hard-fought congressional race in the working-class neighborhoods east of Denver,...
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Swing States Project — October 16, 2012 03:00 PM
The Ad Wars: Is the IRS throwing in the towel on political nonprofits?
Politico identifies thirteen "social welfare" groups misleading the IRS
On Monday, Politico published a powerful investigation of so-called “social welfare” groups that mislead the Internal Revenue Service about their political activities in applying to gain tax-exempt status. In 2012 alone, Politico identified more than $134 million in political spending by organizations that pledged that they would not engage in politics on their applications to the IRS to be recognized...
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Swing States Project — October 16, 2012 02:50 PM
Nevada media pillory Oceguera attack ad
An "outrageous" ad in a House race raises questions—including whether starting a controversy was the aim
NEVADA — Here in the Silver State, John Oceguera isn’t a household name—although, as the Democratic nominee for the House of Representatives in Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, he’d like to be.
Sure, Oceguera’s the Speaker of the state Assembly—but the legislature hasn’t been in session since June of 2011, so he’s not making any headlines in that role. And while...
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Swing States Project — October 16, 2012 11:00 AM
All good debate coverage is local?
Failings of the national press not mirrored in NH
NEW HAMPSHIRE — If you cover politics for a national publication, the story of the debates so far has been President Obama's supposedly lackluster performance and Vice President Biden's over-the-top facial expressions. But are outside-the-Beltway journalists so easily sidetracked into amateur theater criticism and body language analysis? Recent evidence from New Hampshire suggests the answer is no. Is there hope...
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Swing States Project — October 15, 2012 03:11 PM
The word on the street: worried
In New Hampshire voters are fretting about…everything
Continuing our Town Hall tours—in which CJR talks to voters, partly to encourage other journalists to do so, too—I visited Portsmouth, NH, in the southeastern corner of a swing state that backed the president four years ago. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll at the end of September showed Obama leading in New Hampshire by seven percentage points. As of...
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Swing States Project — October 12, 2012 03:34 PM
The Ad Wars: how to expose a dishonest ‘Social Welfare’ group
Telling the IRS one thing, then doing another
We all know that in the 2012 election season, outside groups fueled by unlimited checks from wealthy donors have been flooding America’s airwaves with campaign ads. Most of the attention in this sphere has focused on super PACs, the turbocharged offspring of political action committees.
But super PACs have in fact been outspent by another, more secretive type of...
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Swing States Project — October 12, 2012 03:14 PM
As ads flood Ohio House race, will coverage keep up?
A review finds some solid work, but there's room for more enterprising journalism
OHIO — The donnybrook in northeast Ohio between two Congressional incumbents grappling to keep their jobs has become a leading electoral battleground and one of the most expensive House races in the nation.
The contest is between Democrat Betty Sutton and Republican Jim Renacci, who were pitted against each other after redistricting. But there are many other players involved, too....
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Swing States Project — October 12, 2012 06:49 AM
Does Cuba matter? Not to national media
But some reporters in South Florida find stories that go beyond clichés
FLORIDA — Does Cuba really matter?
If asked that question by a reporter, both President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney would likely reply: Yes, absolutely.
Unfortunately, the question of whether Cuba matters—and how, and to whom—is rarely explored in the media, even as Cuba’s role in shaping politics in this key swing state is taken for granted.
Instead, most reporters...
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Swing States Project — October 11, 2012 03:20 PM
Denver Post ducks the $716 billion question
Real-time factchecking is hard, but coverage of House debate was just too thin
COLORADO — Political reporting has become an even tougher job, as journalists face demands both to report the news faster than ever and to do more to hold politicians accountable for their rhetoric. As Justin Peters wrote recently at CJR, the challenge of speeding up the factcheck cycle is one we haven’t quite cracked yet.
But when a particular talking...
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Swing States Project — October 11, 2012 11:00 AM
Time to head to the track
With voting underway, there's nothing wrong with providing the horse race coverage readers crave
DES MOINES — These days, the phrase “horse-race journalism” is often accompanied by the same sneering tone that 1950s intellectuals employed when they curled their lips around the dread word “television.”
Many of the lofty critiques of the shallow end of presidential campaign reporting are indeed justified. The last thing the world needs is comically early speculation about the...
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Swing States Project — October 10, 2012 11:47 AM
Ask Romney This: What will you do about
the Middle East?Vague slogans won't do the job. What about specifics?
Over the final month of the campaign, CJR will run a series of posts under the headline “Ask Obama This” and “Ask Romney This,” suggesting questions that reporters should pose to the presidential candidates. The first installment focused on President Obama and his jobs plan. This one on Mitt Romney and foreign policy.
It’s complicated. It’s inseparable from US...
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Swing States Project — October 10, 2012 06:50 AM
Healthcare—reform in Great Britain vs. the USA:
part twoA conversation between CJR's Trudy Lieberman and Chris Smyth, health reporter for The Times of London
A while back Trudy Lieberman sat down with Chris Smyth, the health correspondent for The Times of London, who was visiting America to learn more about the US health system, and who has covered the debate over reforms in his nation. What follows is Part two of their conversation about healthcare reform in the US and Great Britain. Part one...
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