2008 Woodie Awards
From Saturday Night Live parody to journalistic hypothesis
Forum discusses issues regarding Hillary Clinton's press coverage after SNL skit
By: Kristen Schweitzer
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Campus
A Saturday Night Live actor posing as Hillary Clinton was hushed in a mock debate. Whatever "Hillary" had to say couldn't possibly compare to "Obama's" words.
A crowd of about 50 people watched this skit at the April Arts and Science Forum in the Union Thursday.
"That sketch got a lot of attention, as well as the ones that followed," said Melissa Miller, an assistant professor in the University's department of political science and affiliated faculty with the women's studies department. Clinton even made a reference to the skit in a debate with Obama in Cleveland, a week after it aired.
Miller wanted to test the hypothesis Saturday Night Live suggested.
"Our project received a jump start from Saturday Night Live," said Miller. The skit was meant to poke fun at journalism coverage of the 2008 election, specifically Clinton and Obama coverage.
In her presentation, "Testing the Saturday Night Live Hypothesis: Preliminary Findings on Hillary Clinton's Press Coverage," Miller wanted to answer the questions she had about Clinton's press coverage, such as what Clinton's coverage really focused on, how she was doing in the horse race, whether the majority of her coverage was positive or negative and whether her success in the running has been hampered by media coverage.
Miller gathered a team of graduate and undergraduate students in order to aid her and colleague Jeff Peake, also an assistant professor in the political science department with the research.
Miller used articles and editorials from the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times for her research. The articles were categorized by those that mentioned candidates' sex, appearance, marital status, viability to win, policy issues and positions, qualifications and job-related accomplishments and failures.
The team also made note of whether the candidates were mentioned in the headline of opening sentence or paragraph or the articles, as well as if that mention was positive or negative.
A crowd of about 50 people watched this skit at the April Arts and Science Forum in the Union Thursday.
"That sketch got a lot of attention, as well as the ones that followed," said Melissa Miller, an assistant professor in the University's department of political science and affiliated faculty with the women's studies department. Clinton even made a reference to the skit in a debate with Obama in Cleveland, a week after it aired.
Miller wanted to test the hypothesis Saturday Night Live suggested.
"Our project received a jump start from Saturday Night Live," said Miller. The skit was meant to poke fun at journalism coverage of the 2008 election, specifically Clinton and Obama coverage.
In her presentation, "Testing the Saturday Night Live Hypothesis: Preliminary Findings on Hillary Clinton's Press Coverage," Miller wanted to answer the questions she had about Clinton's press coverage, such as what Clinton's coverage really focused on, how she was doing in the horse race, whether the majority of her coverage was positive or negative and whether her success in the running has been hampered by media coverage.
Miller gathered a team of graduate and undergraduate students in order to aid her and colleague Jeff Peake, also an assistant professor in the political science department with the research.
Miller used articles and editorials from the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times for her research. The articles were categorized by those that mentioned candidates' sex, appearance, marital status, viability to win, policy issues and positions, qualifications and job-related accomplishments and failures.
The team also made note of whether the candidates were mentioned in the headline of opening sentence or paragraph or the articles, as well as if that mention was positive or negative.
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