Study: Press, Obama love-fest continues

Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 10/20/2008 6:00:00 AM

A new report confirms that "Obamamania" is alive and well in the mainstream media.

A non-partisan research group says Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has increased his lead over John McCain in the race for good press, while Sarah Palin's press has "turned sharply negative" on network news shows.

The Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) has released the results of a scientific content analysis of nearly 600 election news stories that aired from August 23 through September 30 on ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, and Fox Special Report.

CMPA executive director Donald Rieck says since the party conventions began, comments about Senator Obama on the network evening news shows have been 65 percent positive, compared to only 36 percent positive comments about Senator John McCain. Rieck says Obama's press coverage has been "universally great."

"He had astronomically high positives in our study from the beginning all the way through when Hillary dropped out," he notes. "We're talking upwards of 88 percent positive evaluated statements on the evening news...of the three major networks and Brit Hume."

Rieck says Obama received tough coverage only for a two- or three-week period after Senator Hillary Clinton dropped out of the Democratic primary. According to the CMPA report, comments about Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin have been only 42 percent positive, while there have been too few evaluations of Senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware) for "meaningful analysis."