What Liberal Bias?

Two recent studies by the Center for Media and Public Affairs show that by far, John Kerry is receiving more favorable coverage by the MSM. In one study comparing ABC, CBS, NBC, FNC, and CNN, the CMPA recorded the analysis of each network immediately following the two presidential debates. They ended up with 476 comments about Sen. Kerry and 474 about President Bush. They categorized each comment about each candidate as either positive or negative. The table below shows the percentage of positive and negative comments made at each network about each candidate.

First debate Second debate

________pos___neg_____pos neg_____
ABC Kerry: 82% 18% Kerry: 86% 14%
Bush: 24% 76% Bush: 71% 29%

_______pos___neg______pos___neg_____
CBS Kerry: 81% 19% Kerry: 60% 40%
Bush: 45% 55% Bush: 44% 54%

_______pos___neg______pos___neg____
NBC Kerry: 55% 45% Kerry: 74% 26%
Bush: 52% 48% Bush: 31% 69%

______pos___neg______pos___neg____
FNC Kerry: 51% 49% Kerry: 48% 52%
Bush: 52% 48% Bush: 46% 54%

______pos___neg______pos___neg____
CNN Kerry: 55% 45% Kerry: 68% 32%
Bush: 57% 43% Bush: 56% 44%
_______________________________________________

(Source: Media Tenor and the Center for Media and Public Affairs)

Interesting indeed.

In another study, the CMPA examined:

"...election coverage from June 1 through September 2 on the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news shows and in Time and Newsweek."

The analysis of coverage was once again divided into individual comments and those comments were rated either positive or negative. They determined:

"Evaluations of John Kerry were positive by a two-to-one margin, while evaluations of George W. Bush were over
60% 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 candidates was largest on NBC; the coverage was most balanced on ABC."

"Based on our 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."

The evidence just keeps piling up!