Study: Networks Much Tougher On Obama Than McCain

LA Times:

Haters of the mainstream media reheated a bit of conventional wisdom last week.

Barack Obama, they said, was getting a free ride from those insufferable liberals.

...

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.

During the evening news, the majority of statements from reporters and anchors on all three networks are neutral, the center found. And when network news people ventured opinions in recent weeks, 28% of the statements were positive for Obama and 72% negative.

Network reporting also tilted against McCain, but far less dramatically, with 43% of the statements positive and 57% negative, according to the Washington-based media center.

Read the whole story: LA Times

Comments

[ChiGuy]

This won't stop the incessant bleating by cons.
It's their favorite phony meme.

[JJeff88]

"You read it right: tougher on the Democrat."

Tell us something we don't know.

Seriously, the article reassures me that I'm not a delusional nut-case - that what I've been seeing and hearing with my own eyes and ears is accurate.

When every move Obama makes is accompanied by something like: "...in his quest to appear less naiive and inexperienced..." Or "...in an attempt to add substance to his shallow, rock star persona...") you kind of get the feeling that the press is going overboard to cast Obama in a lesser light.

Meanwhile, all you seemed to read about his opponent were headlines like: "...McCain Rips Obama Over Surge" or "...McCain Questions Obama's Ability to Lead..."

What's been missing in most of this has been a thorough vetting of McCain - his various positions on key issues as well as whether his many gaffes were innocent or substantive.

Maybe the best way to recap all of this is in an Open Memo to the Media about Sen. Obama:

"Maybe...just maybe, he's really that good."

[TiffanyHusseinBanned]

Anyone with a brain already knew this.


TV MSM won't cover this.

[majorteddy]

OH, really!!!!!!??????

[abigail1]

Great Job Big Three. you are serving the public well.
what an embarrassment. During the 6 weeks when McCain flopped around like a fish out of water and couldn't form a sentence without making a factual error, the media picked on Obama. It'd be hilarious if it weren't so dangerous.

[davidandgolliath]

what I'd like to know is why NBC ABC and CBS all have an anti-Obama spin in their reports. It's painful for me to watch because it it so tremendously unfair. I'm beginning to wonder if the Owners of these media houses were promised Oil money from the Republican Machine if they all conspire to brainwash America into thinking that Obama is an iept candidate to be President of the United States. I just find it such an eerie coincidence that all the networks and magazines such as Time and Newsweek are all heavily unfair to Obama. I 'm wondereing if the networks in an attempt to safeguard their special interests backs have sold their soul to the Republican machine who can't stand the thought of a black man becoming the president of the US. Or is it that the liberal media houses themselves cannot bear the thought of a black man running for president an hence the reason they prefer to unfairly attack Obama while giving pardon and glowing reports to John Mc Cain?

[JenMI]

Do you think any of the networks will read this study?...or mention it?...hmmmm

[recruitgal]

Unlikely. But next time someone mentions the Media's 'love' of O, I'll have this study up my sleeve...

[jeffp26]

Duh.

[BEHM777]

You beat me to it.

BEHusseinM777

[AmericaninProtest]

Tell us something we don't already know.

[PumaAnn]

The report I saw noted the huge gap between McCain and Obama in terms of actual coverage time.

It's like McCain isn't running.

[edwarvir]

iT'S A GIVEN HE'S BLACK. . I would not be surprised if they didn't demand that
he turn water into wine. Katie C went so far as to try and cover for Johnny .

[Chillinout]

I think it has more to do with him being a Dem than being black. The networks have a vested interest to get a Repug in the WH.

[ejay579]

Thus they can accentuate stories that have a racial content or under current and get two birds with one stone.

[PumaAnn]

Play that race card!

[theone718]

Of course this is the case because if the MSM payed more attention to McCain, he would have dropped out of the race by now

[MegInPA]

It doesn't really matter what McCain says or does. It's all about Obama and whether Americans will trust him to be POTUS. If they do, he'll win; if not, McCain will. The whole thing is a referendum on Obama, so for the MSM to belabor McCain's daily gaffes would really be inconsequential.

[tcagle]

Obama's campaign should point this out and tell people what is really happening: nobody, not even MSM, can really see McCain as the next president, so they are giving him a pass as a buffoon. Obama is receiving pressure commensurate to the office he will occupy shortly.

[truegreen]

There has always been double standard in the media when it comes to democratic and republican presidential candidates. Democrats face far more scrutiny than republicans just ask Al Gore and John Kerry. So much for the media love fest for Obama.