MEDIA ANALYSIS SERIES

Business Seminar – Singapore 2nd April 2009

The Obama Report

 Agenda

• 9.30am: Registration and morning coffee

• 10.00am: Welcome Note by Cameron Buckley, General Manager - SEA
• 10.10am: Presentation on “Analysing the Media Response to President Obama” by Leon Hudson,
Sales Director - SEA
• 11.10am: Question and Answer
• 11.25am: Closing Note by Cameron Buckley
• 11.30am: Light Refreshments
• 12.00noon: Seminar ends
Media Analysis Series

Issues detailing specific abilities of media analysis while providing insight

on major topics of global interest

> Subi ipsum

The Obama Report

Evaluating coverage of
President Obama across eight
Asia-Pacific markets:
- Singapore
- Australia
- China
- Hong Kong
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- New Zealand
- Pan-Asian media
3,417 media items from over 213
outlets reviewed by a team of
experienced analysts
 Obama Report – monitoring and analysis process

> Monitoring scope and systems – 5,000 traditional media outlets,

15,000 websites, 25,000 blogs monitored regularly

> Analysis matrix developed

> Keywords developed - (obama) and (inauguration)

> Material sent through to the brief automatically and then accessed by
analysts

> Analysts use the Carma methodology to evaluate each media item for
story focus, issues, messages and favourability
 Obama Report – monitoring
and analysis process

> Positioning

> Prominence

> Issues

> Messages

> Sources

> Tone
Obama Report – Story Focus
> Event coverage dominated

U.S. Economic concerns were the focus of only 12% of the coverage
Obama Report – Key Challenges

> International hotspots were the most mentioned challenges

Favourability was generally high, particularly on Iraq and Afghanistan, but lower for the Israeli-Palestinian
issue
Obama Report – Media Type Comparison

> Websites number one for volume

- A key finding of the report is that news websites are already producing higher volumes of news on key
issues than traditional media.
- Press still provided greater analysis of issues with a lower proportion of neutral items
Obama Report – Media Intermediation

> Print and TV still most referred to media

Print and television news were seen as the most authoritative media, with news agencies not far
behind in mentions
Blogs were only mentioned in two items out of over 3,000 analysed
Obama Report – Leading Messages

> The campaign’s key messages of hope and change maintained

excellent cut-through all the way up to the inauguration

- Positive messages dominated, accounting for over 95% of all messages

- Leading messages related to broad themes, with specific policy messages appearing far less
frequently
Obama Report – Market by Market Story Focus

> Singapore media showed a much greater focus on the policy

challenges for President Obama

- While Chinese media focused almost entirely on the event itself, South East Asian media and in
particular Singapore media showed an issues focus
- These results seem to indicate a “wait and see” approach from the Chinese and Hong Kong media
 Obama Report – Economy mentions
> Singapore media also led the way on discussion of U.S.
economic concerns, with this issue mentioned more often than in
any other analysed market

- Again, the relatively low level of discussion of economic issues at the time of President Obama’s inauguration in
Chinese and Hong Kong media is surprising
Obama Report – Singapore Story Focus
> Over 50% of Singapore reports focused primarily on the
challenges facing the new President

- The conflict in Gaza during January kept international issues at the forefront, however there was still a
far larger focus on U.S. domestic economic issues than in most other markets
Obama Report – Singapore Leading Media

> News websites and newspapers debated the prospects for

success of President Obama in equal depth in Singapore,
unlike in most other markets, where newspapers were
more analytical than the other media types.

> Media companies in Singapore, as in Australia and Malaysia,

have embraced online technology to deliver their information.

> There were almost double the number of media reports on

news websites than there were in newspapers in Singapore.
Obama Report – Singapore Key Challenges
> While the Middle East conflict over Gaza was the leading key
challenge, the range of economic issues, when combined, were
the most discussed in media relating to President Obama.
Obama Report – Singapore Leading Messages
> Hope and change still lead, but policy messages close behind
Obama Report – Singapore Media Intermediation
> Hope and change still lead, but policy messages close behind
Obama coverage - two months on
> Singapore People Index goes here – Obama v Goh etc
Media Index

> Media Monitors is the largest accumulator

of news and opinion in the Asia-Pacific
region

> This data provides us with the opportunity

to track leading issues across all forms of
media

> As a service to the media and the public,

Media Monitors produces a range of Indices
ranking news stories, brand mentions and
leading people in the news
Media Index

> Brand Index