Super Tuesday Across the Pond

The Times of London, like many foreign news outlets, has had extensive coverage of the 2008 election in the U.S. What distinguishes their perspective from that of American media outlets is their frequent need to explain the electoral system (really, many Americans would benefit from having it spelled out for them, too). The newspaper has devoted an entire blog on its website to coverage of the election, entitled "Across the Pond." In multiple posts a day, it breaks down the definition of a "superdelegate," reports the latest primary results, and more. The "superdelegate" post (published today at the above link) gives a concise definition before linking to American news sources for elaboration.

These blog posts complement the news stories that will be published tomorrow, including one apparently filed right after Virginia was called for Obama in today's primary that forecast his predicted victory in Maryland and D.C., as well, before going on to devote a brief paragraph to McCain's success over Huckabee. The rest of the article analyzed Clinton's chances of remaining in the race, echoing the presumptive sense of doom that American media have also been hinting at. It is not hard to imagine the tone of the latter half of the article shaping the news rather than reporting it.

I'm going to turn to old news now, but since I'm just now beginning the blogging for this comparative study of international news agendas, I thought it would be helpful to reflect on how a British news source covered Super Tuesday, too. With all the coverage the election is receiving is the press, one has to wonder whether Britons are actually paying attention. When I was in London during the spring of 2007, I spoke with British university students who knew as much (or sometimes more) about recent campaign developments and predictions as I did. Students (especially those studying politics at a metropolitan university) are a rare breed, though, and The Times suggests that not all Britons care that much about knowing up-to-the-minute developments in the campaigns.

On Super Tuesday, The Times posted a video on its website interviewing mostly middle-aged adults around the streets of London, and few of them knew it was "Super Tuesday." They were first asked if they were following the U.S. elections (many were), and then if knew what day it was. The majority were unaware that it was anything other than the 5th of February. This is an interesting reminder that audiences pick and choose what news to follow closely, and news agendas may not always match up with the public's interests as closely as editors imagine.