Inauguration Coverage

In examining the coverage of the Inauguration by elite and local media, I found that each newspaper or news outlet varied in the amount of coverage they carried out as well as the topics they covered in their articles.
For The New York Times, I noticed online there was a “New York City Edition” and a “National Edition” however, the inaugural coverage seems to be more heavily focused on the National Edition and was released today, the day after the Inauguration. In the National Edition, articles in the paper focused more on the historical backdrop of the election and the significance of this inauguration. The front-page article talks about Obama’s speech at the inauguration and what future challenges he will have to face as the 44th president. The article titled “After a Day of Crowds and Celebrations, Obama turns to Sober List of Challenges”, talks about the economic crisis and seems to be de-romanticizing the event by mentioning such things as the hospitalization of Massachusetts Senator, Edward M. Kennedy. Another article focused on Obama’s family and his journey from Africa to the White House, tracing his family roots as well as that of the First Lady, back to slavery five generations ago. The New York City Edition of the paper on the day of the Inauguration did not seem to give too much importance to the Inaugural events themselves, but instead talked about President Obama’s transition to the White House and there is also an article on Michelle Obama, what she has done so far and what her role as the First Lady will entail.
In the Washington Post, there seemed to be a different feel to the articles. They were focused more heavily on the actual happenings of the Inauguration events. For example, there is an article in Tuesday’s “Inauguration Edition” of the Washington Post that talks about the large amounts of people who came from across the country to this historic election. Titled, “A Massive Crowd Embraces the Moment,” the article talks about the American people’s unifying devotion to their President and the sacrifices and feats they made to come see him being sworn in. Also, online there are articles about the parking issues, train problems, and other issues effecting the city itself.
When looking at the BBC website, it seems there is only one article, about President Obama’s inauguration, titled “Obama pledges ‘era of openness’”. The top news story talks about how Obama signed executive orders saying he will bring a ‘new era of openness’ from the government. Although this seems to be the only article concerning the Inauguration, it is not until we navigate to BBC World News America that we see the whole page covered with articles about President Obama’s swearing in, his future challenges, opinions of news correspondents, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s prediction of a black president, and many other articles and videos. It seems, in comparison to the other newspapers, BBC has made a large attempt to cover different aspects of the Inauguration- historically, futuristically and factually.
NPR also like BBC World News America, made an effort to cover different aspects of the Presidential Inauguration. Online, there are articles about Obama’s presidential priorities, Martin Luther Kin Jr., the coverage of being sworn in, and the large amount of people who traveled long and short distances to attend the event.
Something interesting to notice about the top 10 newspapers on the Newseum website, is the different emotions each of them evokes. For example, the first page of the Oakland Tribune has a full-page picture of President Obama amidst his speech, clenching both fists, with a quote saying “We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America.” The title of the paper reads ,”Our 44th- and our FIRST.” There is so much in the cover of the paper in itself about the historical importance of this inauguration as well as the critical time our country is in. The Oakland Tribune displays a good balance in trying to portray a sense of novelty of having our first black president as well as hope to overcome future challenges.
The Bismarck Tribune, evokes a sense of a historic milestone in their cover of a similar President Obama clenching his fists in mid-speech, cropped and set before a backdrop of a collage with pictures of different spectators of the momentous occasion. The title of the page reads, “Historic Change: Barack Obama Sworn in as the 44th US President.”
Another newspaper I looked into was the Boston Globe, and there it shocked me to see the least amount of articles on the presidential inauguration. The headlining article for the day of the Inauguration topics the inauguration and President Obama’s preparation for a transition to the White House. The only other article related to the Inauguration is of two groups from Cambridge, MA that traveled to Washington, DC for Inauguration day. There is little to no other indication of any story about the President or the inauguration at all.
Articles printed in these along with other elite and local newspapers evoke certain emotions about the Inauguration that are then relayed to the readers. It is also interesting to see which aspects of the event were covered, if any, in order to draw comparisons between different news outlets.