The November 28th debate co-sponsored by CNN and YouTube offered the Republican candidates a chance to face questions from ordinary voters submitted through YouTube. The Democratic version of this debate occurred over the summer and drew mixed reviews. Democratic candidates were questioned by cartoon characters and even a snowman. GOP candidates overcame their concerns about questions from snowmen and other problems with the format to field questions on topics ranging from illegal immigration to space policy and the budget deficit to belief in the Bible.

Once again our goal was to compare the content of the debate to media coverage of the debate to assess how thoroughly and accurately news readers and viewers were informed in subsequent media accounts. In order to make comparisons across the various formats and length of news accounts we counted the number of words devoted to various topics in both the debate and the news accounts.

What They Said

Despite some of the ensuing criticism of the debate format and the motivations of the questioners, the debate was very substantive. Of the 21,521 words found in the debate, 15 percent (14.9%) discussed the problems and solutions to illegal immigration.

This topic dominated the opening section of the debate and drew some of the most heated exchanges. Illegal immigration garnered almost three times the amount of attention given to the next most prominent topic. The federal budget, including the line item veto, accounted for 5.6 percent of the debate. The situation in Iraq took third place with 5.1 percent of words followed by abortion (4.9%). Rounding out the top five topics of the debate was gun control (4.2%). Discussion of gays in the military and terrorism were each discussed in 3.5 percent of the debate. Taxes, particularly plans to cut taxes, accounted for 3.3 percent of the debate. Filling out the top ten topics were crime and the possible torture of enemy combatants, both of which were found in 3.2 percent of the debate.

The Media Accounts

To assess media coverage of the debate we examined coverage on November 29th in the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight, Fox News Special Report with Brit Hume and NBC Nightly News. Only the first 30 minutes of Special Report were examined to insure comparability with other newscasts. The Times ran three pieces including an opinion column by Gail Collins, entitled Paging the Lesser of 8 Evils. The piece opened with this line, Debate time! Once again last night, Republican candidates came together to taunt the viewing public with the reminder that one of them is going to have to be nominated for president. And included this observation on evangelical voters, Huckabee is threatening Mitt Romney in Iowa, home of many evangelical voters, at least a few of whom are expressing concern that if a Mormon president prayed for guidance in a crisis, God might not hear him. USA Today offered only one story, while both the Journal and the Post printed two stories. On television CBS led the way with three stories. ABC, Fox News and NBC aired two stories apiece, while CNN aired just one report.

Illegal immigration dominated the debate and it was also the largest topic of media coverage accounting for 26 percent of media coverage. In the New York Times 43.9 percent of coverage discussed illegal immigration. This included a unique piece that examined charges, leveled during the debate, that New York City was a sanctuary city during the Giuliani administration. The story concluded that, although the term is vaguely defined, New York under Giuliani and his predecessors did operate under a don’t ask, don’t tell policy regarding illegal immigrants. CNN’s single story on the debate focused heavily on illegal immigration (39.8%) in keeping with one of the central themes of the show. On NBC Nightly News 38.4 percent of the coverage discussed illegal immigration. Almost a quarter (24.6%) of ABC’s coverage addressed illegal immigration.

USA Today placed fifth with 16.7 percent of its debate coverage devoted to illegal immigration followed by the Washington Post (16.6%). CBS Evening News focused 14.3 percent of their coverage on illegal immigration, while at the Journal the topic accounted for 13.7 percent. Fox News bought up the rear with 8.9 percent.

Discussions of the federal budget occupied 5.6 percent of the debate and made it the second most discussed topic of the night, but the issue barely registered in media coverage of the event. The federal budget accounted for less than one percent (0.8%) of media coverage. Similarly, the situation in Iraq was discussed in 5.1 percent of the debate, but was found in less than one percent (0.6%) of media coverage. The hot button issue of abortion fared a little better. Questions and answers about the candidates’ positions on abortion accounted for just under five percent (4.9%) of the debate, and two percent of media coverage.

Similar disparities exist for a raft of other issues covered in the debate. Gun control, gays in the military, terrorism and crime policy were all found in more than three percent of the debate, but each received less that one percent of ensuing media coverage. Taxes were discussed in 1.7 percent of media accounts compared to 3.3 percent of the debate. Only the emotional issue of torture drew more attention in the media than the debate. Candidate exchanges on torture accounted for 3.2 percent of the debate, while reporting those exchanges accounted for 4.7 percent of media coverage. The vehemence of Senator McCain’s reactions to some of Governor Romney’s remarks spurred media interest in the topic.

Every debate breeds its own controversies and stories that take on a life apart from the debate. Following the YouTube debate, controversy swirled around breaking news of possible improprieties in how then Mayor Giuliani billed security expenses to the city. Mayor Giuliani was asked about the questionable practices during the debate and argued that everything was above board and appropriate. Of the morning papers, only the Post mentioned the controversy. Just over four percent (4.1%) of the Post coverage mentioned the Giuliani controversy.

The television evening newscasts gave this controversy considerably greater play (only Lou Dobbs Tonight skipped any mention of the controversy). Over half (52.5%) of ABC’s coverage dealt with the Giuliani controversy. CBS Evening News was close behind with 46.5 percent. For its part, NBC News covered the Giuliani controversy in 28.4 percent of its debate coverage. Fox News devoted only 8.6 percent of the words in its coverage to the controversy.