Press Praises Barack and Fred, Knocks McCain

The press gives Obama and Fred Thompson upbeat coverage, John McCain a hard time, and balances reporting on Hillary and Giuliani, says the Hollywood Reporter. A new study shows that Obama and Thompson received positive coverage in half of their 2007 stories, while McCain's were 48% negative and 12% positive. Why the tough reporting? McCain’s slides in fund-raising and the polls won him downbeat stories.

Reporting of Giuliani and Hillary was more split, but both endured more bad than good. The study, which covers 2007 up to May, also says that five hopefuls got half of all campaign coverage. It also slams reporters for focusing on policy just 14% of the time, "at sharp variance with what the public says it wants from campaign reporting." (More media stories.)