U.S. Republican presidential nominee John McCain got much more negative news coverage than his Democratic opponent Barack Obama, according to a new study by Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA).
Since the general election campaign started in June, comments about Obama on the network evening news shows have been 65 percent positive, compared to only 36 percent positive comments about McCain, according to the study, which was released Friday.
In the presidential primaries in the first half of the year, Obama's news coverage was 62 percent positive on the broadcast networks.
By contrast, McCain's coverage during the primaries was only 34percent positive, almost the same as his general election coverage.
Despite a brief flurry of good press during the GOP convention, comments about Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate, have been only 42 percent positive.
The study also finds that network news coverage of this election is more substantive than in other recent presidential campaigns.
The coverage of policy issues and the candidates' records has outpaced "horse race" coverage of their poll standings and campaign strategies by 36 to 31 percent of all stories on the broadcast networks, for only the second time since 1988.
The CMPA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization which is affiliated with George Mason University.
It has monitored news coverage of every presidential election since 1988.
Source:Xinhua
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