Do the media really love Obama?

Although Barack Obama was thousands of miles away from the United States, it was hard not to see him last week.

He was on the front pages of almost every major newspaper, shown smiling and shaking hands with world leaders. He was the lead story on several major network news broadcasts, shown riding in a helicopter with U.S. General David Petraeus.

And he was interviewed by the network's television anchors themselves who took an unusual trip abroad with a candidate for president who had not yet been elected to the office.

Perception of Media Bias For Obama

Last week Jon Stewart's Daily Show ran a regular feature called "Obama Quest," with a splashy 13-second video introduction depicting the Illinois senator as a legendary hero slaying dragons with a sword and steering a ship to safety. In contrast, a feature on Obama's rival called "McCain Quest" depicted John McCain as a lonely, decrepit old man standing outside a window and slowly being lifted by an automatic chair moving up a stairway.

It's not the first time the media have been accused of being "in the tank" for Obama. NBC's Saturday Night Live did a skit in February that depicted the media as fawning over the Democratic candidate. In the words of the fictitious television journalist who began the fake debate: "Like nearly everyone in the news media, the three of us are totally in the tank for Senator Obama."

The journalist continued: "Now let's meet the candidates. Just four years ago, Barack Obama was known only as a brilliant, charismatic and universally admired member of the Illinois State Senate. Today he is one of our nation's truly visionary leaders. And soon, knock on wood, the first black president of the United States."

The media haven't been that overt, but the McCain campaign has seized on the perceived media imbalance by releasing a video that claimed the media loves Barack Obama. The 3-minute video (shown below) splices together various media clips of journalists talking about Barack Obama in very positive tones and others blaming the media for a bias. 

But Is It True?

With all that attention for Barack Obama recently, a new story line emerged last week that the Illinois senator was getting a free ride and John McCain was being treated unfairly. But now an independent study says it's actually the other way around.

An independent think tank found that ABC, NBC and CBS were actually "tougher on Barack Obama than on John McCain" in recent weeks, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, found that only 28 percent of the opinion statements made about Obama by network news people in recent weeks were positive while 72 percent were negative. 

McCain's treatment wasn't nearly as bad, the study found. Forty-three percent of the statements about McCain were positive and only 57 percent were negative, the researchers discovered. That means both candidates have gotten more negative attention than positive, but Obama has gotten substantially more criticism than McCain.

While it seems that Obama has received more air time, the air time hasn't always been positive. Quantity does not equal quality. Yet Republicans have been complaining lately about another review, revealed on The Tyndall Report blog.

Andrew Tyndall argues that Obama has gotten far more air time than McCain lately. "In the seven weeks since the primary season ended (04jun08-23jul08), John McCain has logged 67 minutes on the three broadcast networks' weekday nightly newscasts, Barack Obama 166," according to Tyndall. 

But Tyndall also warns readers not to interpret that statistic as undercoverage of McCain, who logged 203 minutes of network airtime in the first 6 months of the campaign. "That is plenty," says Tyndall. "It is more for the first two quarters than any other candidate in the previous five cycles."

Other media watchers also take issue with the assumption that McCain has been treated unfairly. "John McCain's claim that the media is out to get him couldn't be more disingenuous," argues Paul Waldman, co-author of Free Ride: John McCain and the Media. "Most politicians would sell their soul for the type of media coverage he has received over the past decade. It's no wonder McCain has called the media his base," said Waldman.

Meanwhile, Media Matters, released a new video designed to "hold the media accountable" for their bias for John McCain.

As the Los Angeles Times quoted Robert Lichter, the director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, in discussing his group's new study: "This information should blow away this silly assumption that more coverage is always better coverage," he said.

Watch John McCain's video accusing the media of anti-McCain, pro-Obama bias. 

Watch the video accusing the media of pro-McCain bias.