Posted on Jan 29, 2014 in Image & Innovation
By Tim Kadahl, Solutions Manager and Writer, Universal Information Services
The annual State of the Union speech
is part of the political DNA of the United States. The roots of the
address go back to George Washington in 1790. In modern times, every
president since Woodrow Wilson has presented at least one State of the
Union in front of a joint session of Congress.
In the not-too-distant past, reactions to this kind of presidential
address would take at least a news cycle (typically a day.)
Columnists, pundits, and editorial boards needed time to think, write,
and react. It’s easy to forget in 2014 that newspapers don’t appear out
of thin air and that it takes dozens of people to put a TV newscast
together.Today’s news cycle is simple to describe – it’s now and it never ends. With that in mind, measuring the national and global reaction to a State of Union address happens while the speech is still being given. Twitter, Facebook, blogs and other online posting can show which message points did or did not resonate.
The following chart illustrates which of the president’s key issues generated the most media attention. It illustrates “share of voice” from the global media landscape in the hours immediately before and after the #SOTU address. The chart:
(analysis covering 24 hours prior to 11am CDT, 1/29/14)
Source: Universal Information Services