Over the past three weeks “SNL” has put itself back into the national discussion — not a bad place for any television show to be, as Mr. Michaels acknowledged — first with a series of sketches that have centered on the premise that Mrs. Clinton has been the target of a vengeful press that sees Mr. Obama with stars in its eyes and also with the overt (albeit comic) endorsement of Mrs. Clinton by Tina Fey, the former “SNL” star who returned on Feb. 23 to be the host of the first show after the recent writers’ strike. “Bitches get stuff done,” Ms. Fey said, using herself as an example.
In the weeks that followed, some commentators have cited the comedy bits as aids that have helped revive Mrs. Clinton’s campaign with primary victories in Ohio and Texas. A study by the Pew research organization found that critical coverage of Mr. Obama had increased in the news media after the sketches.
Here's AP's take on the subject, published March 5 at thestar.com:
Life imitating art or just a coincidence? A study of campaign coverage found the media took a sharper look at Barack Obama the week after Saturday Night Live spoofed journalists enthralled by his candidacy.
The NBC comedy show on Feb. 23 opened with a mock debate in which journalists were rough on Hillary Clinton while being starry-eyed about Obama. It matched complaints the Clinton campaign had made – and she even referenced the comedy skit during a real debate last week.
During the week, Obama was the dominant person in 69 per cent of presidential campaign stories, according to a study by Project for Excellence in Journalism.
That's the biggest percentage one candidate had received in any week this year.
Many of the stories took a tough look at Obama, such as a Feb. 25 ABC World News study on his Illinois legislative record and a CBS Evening News report on his career three nights later.
It's hard to say whether SNL acted as a de facto assignment editor, since some of the stories were probably being prepared before the NBC show aired, but it did seem to crystallize a thought that had been percolating, said Mark Jurkowitz, the project's associate director.
"There were a lot of factors at play. But there's no question the skit, if nothing else, was perfectly timed."
The media bounce continued for Clinton. For the period of March 3-9, the PEJ headline was: "Media admire Clinton's resilience, question Obama's toughness."