WHO PUMICES THE PUMICER?:

Networks Praise Kerry, Fox News Buries Him (Press Release, September 9, 2004)

The broadcast TV networks and weekly news magazines favor John Kerry over George W. Bush, according to a new study released by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA). But the study also finds that Fox News Channel was far more negative towards Kerry than Bush.

These results come from the 2004 Election NewsWatch project, conducted by CMPA, an affiliate of George Mason University , and in cooperation with Media Tenor. [...]

Major Findings:

• Evaluations of John Kerry were positive by a two-to-one margin, while evaluations of George W. Bush were over 60 percent negative

• Among non-partisan sources, Kerry's evaluations were almost three-to-one positive; Bush's were over two-to-one negative.

• Among the networks, the gap between the candidates was largest on NBC; the coverage was most balanced on ABC.

• Kerry's proportion of good press declined in August, but he still fared far better than Bush until the GOP convention.

• Bush got better than Kerry only during the GOP convention, which also was the only time he received a majority of positive evaluations.

• Based on CMPA's previous studies of primary and general election coverage, Kerry has gotten the best press on network news of any presidential nominee since we began tracking election news in 1988.

And the press wonders why no one trusts them?

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 24, 2004 11:50 AM