Media coverage of the presidential candidates is tied to their standings in the polls

October 23rd, 2008 at 10:26am Pat Cunningham

 

A new study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism SHOWS that media coverage of John McCain or Barack Obama tends to become more negative when the candidate loses ground in the polls.

In early September, for example, as Kit Seelye of The New York Times reports, McCain was “enjoying a post-convention bounce. He was leading Mr. Obama by about 5 points in the Gallup tracking survey, and his press coverage was more positive (37 percent) than negative (32 percent). Mr. Obama’s coverage was twice as negative as positive.” But then the Wall Street crisis emerged, and McCain’s fortunes declined.

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