Fully Myelinated

About the media's love for Obama Not so much, it turns out. Sure, Obama's been getting a lot more coverage than McCain, but that is just news values dictating coverage, not any bias for Obama. Obama is simply a better news story-- he is a Black man with a great chance at being the next president and for many voters he is the most inspiring political candidate in a generation. Furthermore, speeches to 200,000 in Berlin are inherently more newsworthy than town halls in New Hampshire. So, sure Obama's been getting more coverage, but as it turns out, the tone of that coverage is not actually in Obama's favor. From the LA Times:

But now there's additional evidence that casts doubt on the bias claims aimed -- with particular venom -- at three broadcast networks.

The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, where researchers have tracked network news content for two decades, found that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Obama than on Republican John McCain during the first six weeks of the general-election campaign.

You read it right: tougher on the Democrat.

To be fair, it is not exactly Fox news here, as most of the reporting was neutral.

Most on-air statements during that time could not be classified as positive or negative, Lichter said. The study found, on average, less than two opinion statements per night on the candidates on all three networks combined -- not exactly embracing or pummeling Obama or McCain. But when a point of view did emerge, it tended to tilt against Obama.

Still, certainly seems that any media love for Obama is surely outweighed by their love for McCain.

Posted by shgreene ( Jul 30 2008, 01:37:39 PM EDT ) Permalink