A review of 2012 campaign coverage

Media next to Mitt Romney's stage
BOSTON, MA - NOVEMBER 06: Members of the media report the election results next to the stage during Mitt Romney's campaign election night event at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center on November 6, 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts. Voters went to polls in the heavily contested presidential race between incumbent U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. (Photo by Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty Images)
Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty Images

The 2012 election cycle brought big change in the way technology, data, money and changing demographics shape how the media reports on campaigns and issues.

Veteran reporters lament the lack of off-the-record time with candidates. They also describe their roles now tweeting, blogging in addition to writing their stories, especially as media organizations work within tighter budgets.

What went well or went awry under these circumstances of reporting? We often heard how the parties or campaigns adapted to the increasingly diverse nature of the electorate. Did the media adapt too in its coverage? What angles or stories did the media miss?

Walter Shapiro, columnist for Yahoo and Columbia Journalism Review, will join The Daily Circuit Thursday for a post-mortem on campaign coverage.

"I have been deeply disappointed in how little curiosity most of the media has shown in trying to figure out who (other than swing-state TV station owners) has gotten rich off the 2012 campaign-spending bacchanalia," Shapiro wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review. "One detail I would like to see: the 2013 building permits for the vacation homes of leading campaign consultants."

Dori Maynard, president of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, will also join the discussion.

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