Media Negative on McCain

[Dr. Shane]

Study: Coverage of McCain Much More Negative Than That of Obama

Media coverage of John McCain has been heavily unfavorable since the political conventions, more than three times as negative as the portrayal of Barack Obama, a new study says.

Fifty-seven percent of the print and broadcast stories about the Republican nominee were decidedly negative, the Project for Excellence in Journalism says in a report out today, while 14 percent were positive. The McCain campaign has repeatedly complained that the mainstream media are biased toward the senator from Illinois.

Obama's coverage was more balanced during the six-week period from Sept. 8 through last Thursday, with 36 percent of the stories clearly positive, 35 percent neutral or mixed and 29 percent negative.

[text from link]

[Woody]

This is a real shame. I think if this was any other time in our history ... McCain would be winning by a large margin. But for some reason people blame Bush for our troubles and then for some crazy reason ... they tie McCain to Bush.

[Neil D]

Perhaps it is NOT Bush....Perhaps it is McCain...consider these from the same report from the Pew Research [The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism is a research organization that specializes in using empirical methods to evaluate and study the performance of the press. It is non partisan, non ideological and non political.]-

Among the findings:

* Coverage of Obama began in the negative after the conventions, but the tone switched with the changing direction of the polls. The most positive stories about him were those that were most political—the ones focused on polling, the electoral map, and tactics.

* For McCain, coverage began positively, but turned sharply negative with McCain’s reaction to the crisis in the financial markets. As he took increasingly bolder steps to try and reverse the direction of the polls, the coverage only worsened. Attempts to turn the dialogue away from the economy through attacks on Obama’s character did hurt Obama’s media coverage, but McCain’s was even more negative.

* Coverage of Palin, in the end, was more negative than positive. In all, 39% of Palin stories carried a negative tone, while 28% were positive, and 33% were neutral. Contrary to what some suggested, little of the coverage was about Palin’s personal life (5%).

* Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden was nearly the invisible man. His had just one large moment, the vice presidential debate, which also offered his only positive or neutral contribution. Aside from that week, the limited coverage he did receive was far more negative than Palin’s, and nearly as negative as McCain’s.

* The economy was hardly a singular lens through which the media perceived the race. Though it was the No. 1 campaign topic overall, five out of the six weeks other topics were bigger, and in the end it accounted for not much more of the campaign newshole (18%) than assessments of the candidates in the four debates (17%).

* Horse race reporting, once again, made up the majority of coverage, but less so than earlier in the contest or than in previous elections. Since the conventions ended, 53% of the newshole studied has focused on political matters, particularly tactics, strategy and polling. That is more than twice as much as the coverage focused on policy (20%). This focus on tactics and horse race grew in the last three weeks as both campaigns became more negative in their rhetoric.

Shane, I am surprized that you are using one of my resources to support your position. You have Poo-hoo it before and claimed that it was too liberal...

[Dr. Shane]

Quote:

Shane, I am surprized that you are using one of my resources to support your position. You have Poo-hoo it before and claimed that it was too liberal...

I didn't state any position. I just posted a story and a link to it. I made no comment. One would have to guess at what I think. Any mind readers here?

[Neil D]

I didn't state any position. I just posted a story and a link to it. I made no comment. One would have to guess at what I think. Any mind readers here?

You want us to mind meld with you??? Well, I am reminded of one of those colorful contortion-straws that allows the liquid of one's favorate beverage to swirl round, and do loop-de-loos, and finally finds itself in one's mouth....Do you really want me to apply this illustration to your thinking????