Politics & Media

A discussion that revolved around the critics of Barack Obama and his policies dominated the blogosphere last week—with the Tea Party protests and Jimmy Carter’s remarks about race as the main catalyst. On YouTube, an exhibition of public rudeness was the most viewed video.

Just as in offline politics, the well-off and well-educated are especially likely to participate in online activities that mirror offline forms of engagement. But there are hints that social media may alter this pattern.

While the mainstream press focused on the health care battle last week, the online conversation centered on sobering survey results for President Obama. Bloggers also jumped into the racially charged “Skip” Gates case. Iran was again the hot Twitter topic and a confrontation between David Beckham and angry soccer fans led on YouTube.

With the political battle over health care legislation intensifying in Washington, that subject generated its highest level of coverage, by far, last week. But a remark by the president at the end of his health care press conference quickly changed the news agenda.

How have the news media covered the early days of the Obama presidency? How does that coverage stack up against that of his predecessors? A new study examines the tone and focus of Obama’s media narrative and how compares it to Bill Clinton’s and George Bush’s.

A majority of American adults went online in 2008 to keep informed about political developments and to get involved with the election.

Bloggers expressed strong opinions on two topics last week—President Obama and Tropicana orange juice. Evaluations of Obama broke down on ideological grounds while the uproar over Tropicana’s change in packaging was about brand loyalty.

As the White House moved on a number of economic fronts last week, the financial meltdown and Obama’s big speech accounted for nearly half the news agenda. And the media distilled an unmistakable message about the direction of the new administration.

The most prominent narrative in social media online last week shifted from the stimulus bill to a critique of Obama’s first month in office. While the economic crisis was still a large topic, a policy change at Facebook created an uproar that forced the site to then change course.

It wasn’t much of a honeymoon, at least so far. And nowhere did the discussion of the economic crisis and the new Administration seem to beat up the President more roundly than in the studios of cable talk shows and, of course, on the radio.