Swing States Project

November 30, 2012 11:00 AM
In Pennsylvania, a niche site with wide reach

PoliticsPA drives political conversation in Keystone State
By Ken Knelly
PENNSYLVANIA — Whether it is a presidential swing state or not, Pennsylvania is always a political battleground. With countless boroughs, school districts, the state legislature, and more in a near-constant state of electing, there is never a shortage of campaign news.

What there can be is a shortage of boots on the ground, particularly those with broader statewide perspectives. So...
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November 29, 2012 02:50 PM
The future of factchecking

Here's what journalists should learn from the 2012 campaign
By Brendan Nyhan
As journalists close the books on 2012 and look forward to coverage of a second Obama administration, one important question is where the factchecking movement goes from here.

The general election campaign was unquestionably the most intensively factchecked in history. While factchecking did not eliminate falsehoods from our politics, this was always an unrealistic expectation. The relevant question is whether...
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November 29, 2012 11:00 AM
Can people afford to lose their Social Security COLA?

So far, the press has given this public policy concern the brush off
By Trudy Lieberman
This post is the first of several primers on Social Security we will publish in the coming weeks to help journalists report on this topic.

The Washington Post, whose news columns and opinion pieces have beat the drum for entitlement reform and cutting the federal deficit, banged out an editorial Sunday making a case for changing the way the cost-of-living...
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November 27, 2012 04:00 PM
What if there are fewer polls in 2016?

Is the editor-in-chief of Gallup’s warning a nightmare vision or… sort of beguiling?
By Walter Shapiro
As a feud, it does not rise to the level of Lyndon Johnson versus Bobby Kennedy or even Jack Benny’s radio war with Fred Allen. But, still, anyone organizing a post-election panel discussion might be wise to put a few chairs between New York Times polling guru Nate Silver and Frank Newport, the editor-in-chief of Gallup.

The triggering events were...
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November 27, 2012 11:06 AM
Dart: CBS and the Goldman Sachs solution

Another weak showing on Social Security
By Trudy Lieberman

Maybe CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley was so awestruck by a chance to visit one of the seven trading floors over at Goldman Sachs, and by a rare interview opportunity with Goldman’s CEO, that he forgot about good, skeptical follow-up questions. He and the CBS Evening News get a CJR Dart for this fairly embarrassing effort.

Pelley...
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November 27, 2012 06:50 AM
‘Resetting’ The Plain Dealer

What’s to become of Cleveland’s daily, a bright spot in Ohio's coverage of election 2012?
By T.C. Brown
OHIO — The frenzy of presidential candidates and entourages overrunning the Buckeye State is history, but questions about how Ohio’s largest newspaper will cover future political campaigns loom large.

Managers of The Plain Dealer of Cleveland—the 19th largest newspaper in the nation and the place I spent 17 years covering Ohio politics and government—are primed to make a major announcement...
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November 26, 2012 07:00 AM
Closer look at a cash cow

Denver's KUSA says newsroom's "Truth Tests" set high bar for campaign-ad vetting
By Mary Winter
COLORADO — Barack Obama wasn’t the only winner in the 2012 campaign here. The state’s TV stations—especially those in Denver, the dominant media market—did pretty well, too.

Political groups spent roughly $86 million on election ads in this battleground state, Denver Post TV critic Joanne Ostrow reported earlier this month. According to Ostrow’s source—an anonymous “knowledgeable local TV source”—perhaps $68...
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November 23, 2012 10:45 AM
In Michigan, a look back on the 2012 campaign

A veteran journalist and a young reporter talk about lessons learned
By Anna Clark
MICHIGAN — It was hard. That’s how Marisa Schultz, political reporter for The Detroit News, sums up the experience of covering her first presidential campaign. Or, to put it another way: “It was the toughest professional job I’ve ever done.”

From wading through back-and-forth rhetoric to getting beyond the agenda at campaign events to finding time for deep reporting on...
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November 20, 2012 04:00 PM
Key stories in the Keystone State

Four issues Pennsylvania’s political press should stay on
By Ken Knelly
PENNSYLVANIA — Political reporters and commentators here will continue to ponder, as the Philadelphia Inquirer did on November 9, Pennsylvania’s future swing state status. Even so, there are other key issues confronting the Keystone State and its political press corps—issues that will continue to be clouded by inflamed rhetoric and political money.

Here are four evolving stories Pennsylvania’s political reporters...
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November 20, 2012 11:15 AM
Papa John’s Pizza and the business backlash

The real story: how some employers are still working to undermine Obamacare
By Trudy Lieberman
The media have latched onto the story of John Schnatter. That’s the John of Papa John’s Pizza, a CEO with an Ebenezer Scrooge approach to his employees and customers. He is vowing to reduce employee hours and wages while jacking up the price of his pepperoni pies—all because of Obamacare. The press has presented the story as sort of funny...
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November 19, 2012 02:50 PM
Election reflections from the Silver State

Las Vegas Sun political editor Anjeanette Damon wants face time with presidential candidates, more time with voters
By Jay Jones

NEVADA — Midway through the election cycle just completed, longtime Nevada political writer and TV analyst Anjeanette Damon got a promotion. (I’ve praised her work more than once here). Her bosses at the Las Vegas Sun moved her from political writer to political editor, adding to her responsibilities during a campaign season that already promised plenty of challenges.
...
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November 16, 2012 02:50 PM
Hope and change in unlikely places

Three cheers for campaign coverage from BuzzFeed and the Los Angeles Times
By Walter Shapiro
Channeling the Lord High Executioner in The Mikado, I’ve got a little list of those parts of 2012 coverage that none of them be missed:

Over-wrought chroniclers of the Iowa Straw Poll. Gullible reporters beguiled by poll numbers from disengaged Republicans foretelling President Trump and President Cain. Cable news producers whose frenetic sets and blood-lust live audiences turned the...
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November 15, 2012 01:12 PM
An election post-mortem on Medicare coverage

Coverage? Yes. Guidance? Not so much
By Trudy Lieberman
In mid-August, when Paul Ryan burst on the scene with his voucher scheme for Medicare, the 47-year old program suddenly became hot news. Until then, the media had paid scant attention to Medicare, except in the fall when they served up some “how-to” stories for choosing new Medicare Advantage plans. This time it was different. Ryan’s plans for transforming Medicare...
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November 14, 2012 02:50 PM
Little Havana turns blue (or maybe not)

Choose-your-own-poll-number reporting on the Cuban-American vote
By Brian E. Crowley
FLORIDA — Somehow the Florida election is beginning to feel a bit like an episode from the old I Love Lucy comedy. Not only did the Sunshine State hang over election results for four days—and still counting in some races—but there has been forehead-slapping confusion over who won the Cuban-American vote here, by how much, and what it might mean....
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About the
Swing States Project

Throughout the 2012 election season, CJR reporters on the ground in key states will watchdog local press coverage of political rhetoric and money in politics.

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Swing States Project

PoliticsPA drives political conversation in Keystone State

Here's what journalists should learn from the 2012 campaign

So far, the press has given this public policy concern the brush off

Is the editor-in-chief of Gallup’s warning a nightmare vision or… sort of beguiling?

Another weak showing on Social Security

What’s to become of Cleveland’s daily, a bright spot in Ohio's coverage of election 2012?

Denver's KUSA says newsroom's "Truth Tests" set high bar for campaign-ad vetting

A veteran journalist and a young reporter talk about lessons learned

Four issues Pennsylvania’s political press should stay on

The real story: how some employers are still working to undermine Obamacare

Las Vegas Sun political editor Anjeanette Damon wants face time with presidential candidates, more time with voters

Three cheers for campaign coverage from BuzzFeed and the Los Angeles Times

Coverage? Yes. Guidance? Not so much

Choose-your-own-poll-number reporting on the Cuban-American vote

—advertisement—

The Audit Business

The Observatory Science

Campaign Desk Politics & Policy

Behind the News The Media

Receive a FREE Issue

of Columbia Journalism Review

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