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Study: McCain coverage mostly negative
Politico ^ | 10/22/08 | Michael Calderone

Posted on 10/22/2008 1:06:33 PM PDT by wm_tate

Just 14 percent of the stories about John McCain from the conventions through the final presidential debate were positive in tone, according to a study released today, while nearly 60 percent were negative—the least favorable coverage of any of the 4 candidates on the ticket.

The study, by The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism...took a “cautious and conservative approach,” only judging a story positive or negative if the slant was very clear.

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008election; mccain; media; mediabias; obama
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To: Mrs.Z
This story is so gay I thought this guy would be appropriate. Photobucket
21 posted on 10/22/2008 1:23:12 PM PDT by ladyvet (WOLVERINES!!!!!)
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To: Mrs.Z
This story is so gay I thought this guy would be appropriate. Photobucket
22 posted on 10/22/2008 1:23:42 PM PDT by ladyvet (WOLVERINES!!!!!)
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To: wm_tate

And he’s up in the polls. Think this may be backfiring?


23 posted on 10/22/2008 1:24:05 PM PDT by Terry Mross
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To: ladyvet
Opps, sorry about the double...one of him is definatly enough!
24 posted on 10/22/2008 1:24:41 PM PDT by ladyvet (WOLVERINES!!!!!)
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To: Terry Mross

Most of the public is fed up with bias from “journalists.” Especially those of us who used to be journalists.

So, yes.

-Wm Tate
http://www.atimelikethis.us/


25 posted on 10/22/2008 1:28:30 PM PDT by wm_tate
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To: wm_tate

No doubt about it. And they only counted what was outright negative. Forget that the study didn’t look at how many of Bidens gaffes were given a free pass by not reporting it. Or that CNN and AP have done one hit piece after another on Palin.

The media is very bias. More bias than I have seen in my life.

When the Republican screw up, it is top story daily for weeks. When a Democrat screws up, it is one story (just so they can later say, “we did a story on it”) and it is quickly buried or they gloss it over with a counter punch to the Republicans. Never quite the outrage.

I only watch Fox News because they give both sides of every story.


26 posted on 10/22/2008 1:29:33 PM PDT by nckerr (www.myspace.com/ArmyKerrFamily)
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To: wm_tate

27 posted on 10/22/2008 1:30:10 PM PDT by TonyInOhio (This is no time to go wobbly.)
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To: wm_tate

28 posted on 10/22/2008 1:37:12 PM PDT by GalaxieFiveHundred
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To: wm_tate

Pretty much has to be negative when there’s nothing positive about your opponent....


29 posted on 10/22/2008 1:37:14 PM PDT by babygene (It seems that stupidity is the most abundant element in the universe)
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To: wm_tate
So? One of my pet peeves with some of us Conservatives, is the need to feel validated by the Lamestream Dinosaur Media, the very same people we despise. Newt Gingrich tried bypassing them a bit in 1995, but it didn't work because the Internet and talk radio wasn't as large and pervasive as it is now, and Newt lost his nerve with Clinton.

One of the things the new Conservatives that Tony Blankley talks about need to do, is totally blow off the "Mainstream Media". We have the Internet, we have talk radio, we have Fox News, we can learn from the Democrats and get some 527's going, whatever is needed.

Another thing we Conservatives need to get through our head, is that the idea of a "non-partisan, straight-down-the-middle media" is a myth only recently invented. Prior to World War II, you had:

-Pro-Patriot/pro-tory newspapers during the Revolution.

-Pro-war/anti-war newspapers during the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War.

-Abolitionist (papers that usually had "Republican" in it)/pro-Slavery papers (usually something that ended in "Democrat") prior to and during the Civil War.

-The Spanish-American War was pretty much started by William Randolf Hearst, who invented yellow journalism.

-So-called "muckrakers" like Sinclair Lewis, who was a reporter at the time, were full-bore Socialists who loathed Capitalism.

It was only with the rise of Fascism and Naziism, and World War II, that you began to see the idea of "down the middle" journalism. Even then, you had Time magazine and the New York Times covering for Joey Stalin, Mousey Tung, and the other Communists who murdered millions.

Buying and selling a "conservative" paper is archaic and would run into the same problems that the other Dinosaur papers have had, and would eventually go out of business. New, innovative technology would be the best way- the good old-fashioned Internet, Texting, IMing, 527's, etc. With the advent of the "Fairness" Doctrine, look for talk radio to go to pay-per-listen...make it easily available, profitable, and fun (the last part shouldn't be so hard....we conservatives are having more fun anyway).

Let's not be begging for NBC, MSNBC, ABC, CNN, the New York Times, and the Washington Post to be nice to us. In the long run, we don't need them anyway and, if we're smart and sharp enough, their endorsement should be the kiss of death for any future political candidate.

30 posted on 10/22/2008 1:37:42 PM PDT by HammerOfTheDogs
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To: wm_tate

Upcoming study from the same people:

“Pacific Ocean is big and wet”.


31 posted on 10/22/2008 1:39:36 PM PDT by Mac from Cleveland (Joe Biden behind a microphone is like Ted Kennedy behind a steering wheel)
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To: wm_tate
Digging through to get comparative stats:

McCain: 14% positive, 60% negative, 26% mixed.

Obama: 36% positive, 29% negative, 35% mixed.

Criteria: "In examining tone, the Project’s authors wrote that they took a 'cautious and conservative approach,' only judging a story positive or negative if the slant was very clear."

For McCain, I'd wager that the "mixed" were more negative than positive, and for Obama the opposite was true.

But the media aren't at all biased....

32 posted on 10/22/2008 1:45:13 PM PDT by r9etb
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To: wm_tate

The news media’s performance in this campaign has been the most blatantly biased in my memory. It’s a total disgrace, and a good reason not to trust the news media on anything.


33 posted on 10/22/2008 1:46:10 PM PDT by popdonnelly (Never doubt Hussein Obama)
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To: r9etb

In an ideal world, wouldn’t the stories be 100 percent mixed for both? Don’t reporters, editors and producers understand that it their job to present facts and all sides of an argument? This really shouldn’t be that difficult.


34 posted on 10/22/2008 1:47:35 PM PDT by ravensandricks (Jesus rides beside me. He never buys any smokes.)
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To: wm_tate; All

The article says Obama coverage was mostly mixed. Hah!

It said Biden coverage was fairly negative as well, but there hasn’t been much coverage of his gaffe.


35 posted on 10/22/2008 1:53:05 PM PDT by rwfromkansas ("Carve your name on hearts, not marble." - C.H. Spurgeon)
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To: ravensandricks
In an ideal world, wouldn’t the stories be 100 percent mixed for both?

Well, no... If a candidate has done some pretty ugly things, I would expect the coverage to be pretty much negative. Alternatively, you would think that a truly stellar candidate would get good press most of the time.

In this campaign, however, McCain hasn't done anything particularly ugly -- he's running a pretty good campaign, in fact, despite what the MSM reports.

The media have actually dug into what McCain has said and done, and his record and comments are pretty unexceptional. And thus we must conclude that the MSM is looking for things to report on negatively; or they take what he's said and spin it that way.

For Obama, OTOH, it's all smoke and sunshine up the @$$. The media have given him a pass on almost everything he's said, and have not dug into his past at all. I think a lot of the reporters love him in both a religious and even carnal way, and they'll give him a break for their own selfish reasons.

36 posted on 10/22/2008 1:54:54 PM PDT by r9etb
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To: wm_tate

The good News is it is making viewers switch them off.
Pound on them Freepers they can wilt away along with Obama and his cabal!
Drudge
ELECTION REJECTION: NETWORK NEWS SLUMPS; VIEWERSHIP FADES
Wed Oct 22 2008 07:25:40 ET

The Obama-McCain match-up is proving to be a lackluster election ticket for the Big 3 network news programs, according to NIELSEN MEDIA RESEARCH.

As the shouting from the trail and the frantic spinning from the anchor desks intensify, the audience is voting with their remotes.

All 3 evening news shows experienced audience drops year-to-year for the week of Oct. 13-19, 2008.

CBSNEWS w/ Couric shed a half a million viewers, falling from 6.4 million to 5.9 million; ABCNEWS dropped from 8.1 million to 7.6 million; NBCNEWS slumped from 8.2 million to 7.8 million.
http://www.drudgereport.com/flashnf.htm


37 posted on 10/22/2008 2:01:10 PM PDT by OPS4 (Ops4 God Bless America!Jesus is Lord!)
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To: wm_tate

Well, when you’re running against That One, how can it not be?


38 posted on 10/22/2008 2:01:14 PM PDT by mancini
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To: mancini

Nix my previous post. Read the Title wrong. Thought it was about ads. *slinks away*


39 posted on 10/22/2008 2:02:08 PM PDT by mancini
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To: wm_tate

I’m sure someone like Dan Rather would say, “Well, it’s not our fault that only negative things can be said about Republicans. If they give us something positive to say, we will.”


40 posted on 10/22/2008 2:04:47 PM PDT by Rastus (This fall, terror has a new name: Obama joe Biden!)
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