Examples of scandalous stories and the time it took them to go away prior to the 2016 elections in the US

1. The technology behind Hillary Clinton’s email scandal

• The Hillary Clinton email scandal drew controversy when she used her private email server for official communications rather than using official State Department email accounts that is usually maintained on secure federal servers.
• When the FBI examined the server she had, they found multiple emails containing classified information.
• The very first news story of the scandal broke out on March 2nd, 2015, published by the New York Times, and the very last news article written on the scandal was on November 6th 2016, which was two days prior to the National Elections in November, 8th 2016.
• From the time the news of the email scandal broke out to the last article there was a period of 20 months.

2. Benghazi scandal: How did we get here?

• The scandal was about the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, resulting in the deaths of the U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens and another State Department employee.
• Armed militants also attacked a nearby CIA annex with mortar fire, killing two additional Americans while security personnel fought off the attackers.
• The main controversy was that it was thought that the violence was a premeditated terror attack or a spontaneous response to an American-made video mocking Islam. Republicans accused the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and the Democrats that they were misleading the public for political reasons.
• The news story on the Benghazi scandal first broke out on October 22nd, 2015, first reported by the Washington Post. The last news article to be written on Benghazi prior to the National Elections was published on November 6th, 2016, just two days before the U.S. elections.
• It took one year and two months for the Benghazi controversy to wrap up.

3. Trump Campaign Reeling After Bombshell Sex Tape Leaked

• The scandal involved a Donald Trump tape of him speaking about groping women, adultery and other crude, sexually aggressive comments.
• The scandal broke out on October 7th, 2016 during his presidential run. The last news article written on the leaked sex tape prior to the National Elections was on October 9th, 2016 
• The story was on the news for exactly 2 days.

4. Ted Cruz Sex Scandal Story Just the Latest Bombshell in a Bizarre Campaign

• The scandal involved Texas Senator Ted Cruz who was a Republican presidential candidate. He was rocked by an alleged sex scandal whereby it was said that he had had a series of extramarital affairs involving five different women.
• The scandal first broke out on March 25th, 2016. The last news article was written on October 20th 2016 by the Christian Post.
• It took 7 months for the story to die out.

5. Jeb Bush Listed Himself as ‘Hispanic’ on Voter Form

• The scandalous story involved the discovery that Jeb Bush had listed himself as Hispanic on a voter-registration application in Miami-Dade County.
• The scandalous story broke out on April 5th, 2015. The last news article to be written about it was on March 29th, 2016.
• It took exactly one year for the story to be wrapped up.

6. Chris Christie bridge scandal: a primer

• The scandal involved Chris Christie. He was accused that he had closed the New Jersey bridge as a political retribution against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich (D) who had declined to endorse him for re-election.
• The scandal broke out on January 10th, 2014, first reported by CNN Politics while the last news article written prior to the National elections was on November 4th 2016. 
• From the time the scandalous story broke out to the time the last news article was written, 2 years and 10 months had passed.

7. Another Mike Huckabee associate was just hit with a molestation scandal

• The scandal involved an associate of presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee (R), concerning molestation accusations from the past.
• The scandal broke out on May 22nd, 2015, with the last news article being published on January 14th 2016.
• From the first time the scandal broke out to the last time it was mentioned in the news, 7 months had elapsed.

KEY FINDINGS

• According to a Gallup poll, Americans tended to associate Hillary Clinton's infamous email scandal with her the most during the 2016 presidential election as there was so much news coverage about her emails.
• One study discovered that the New York Times alone ran as many stories about Hillary Clinton's emails in six days as they did her policy issues combined in the 69 days prior to the election.
• Within the first 100 days of Donald Trump's presidency, one out of six news stories were negative stories about his presidential tweets, which highlights how much negative coverage about Trump comes and goes after the 2016 election.
• While media coverage of Hillary Clinton's one scandal around her emails stuck with her during the election, news coverage on Donald Trump's scandals seemed to come and go in media coverage, almost every day.
• While Brock Turner was originally sentenced to six months in prison for sexually assaulting an unconscious person in 2016, he filed an appeal for his conviction and the subsequent outrage over his short sentence sparked a nationwide discussion on sexual assault.
• In 2019, the victim in the Brock Turner assault case was reported to be writing a memoir of her experience and her case is said to have helped start the national #MeToo movement in 2017.

RESEARCH STRATEGY