Online Newspaper and Magazine Coverage

Generally we can say that in both “Spiegel Online”-articles from the day after his election, 5th November 2008, are written in a positive way. The description is filled almost with positive and friendly words for the new president. The headline of the first article is called “Triumph of a lucky child”, the second titles “Obama reaches a historical win”. Only the topic shows the German pro-Obama-attitude.

In both “Spiegel Online”-texts Obama is treated like a kind of popstar with a human touch: He is called the new “person of hope” who likes theological books, always held “wonderful speeches” and must be a “faithful husband and a proud father”.

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,588495,00.html

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,588285,00.html

The article from focus.de (5th November 2008) seems similar to that from “Spiegel Online”: There’s a long description of the reaction of the American people, who were cheering and screaming with tears in their eyes because of Obama’s election victory.

http://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/uswahl/us-wahl-barack-obama-neuer-praesident-der-usa-_aid_346163.html

Only the election analysis from sueddeutsche.de (5th November 2008) seems to be more neutral at a first glance. Nevertheless the facts are also presented in a positive way: already in the topic Obama is compared with Kennedy. Furthermore the description of the Americans is not really objective. For example the analysis shows how the “crowds of people” are waiting in front of the polling stations with a lot of patience.

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/analyse-von-obamas-wahlerfolg-obama-uebertrifft-kennedy-1.522420