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Reporters covering President Obama’s annual State of the Union address this week should skip the quick claims that the speech is Obama’s chance to reinvigorate his presidency, writes Brendan Nyhan in the Columbia Journalism Review.

“Ultimately, media outlets that cover the State of the Union as a story about Obama’s popularity are missing the real news being made,” writes Nyhan, who is an assistant professor of government.

The story, Nyhan says, is about the issues at stake and what they signal about the president’s priorities for the rest of his time in office.

Read the full opinion piece, published 1/27/14 by Columbia Journalism Review.