Sen. Barack Obama has received nearly 40 percent more media coverage this summer than Sen. John McCain, according to LexisNexis, which monitors 2,700 media outlets that includes virtually all major newspapers, magazines, Web sites, television and radio networks in the United States.
LexisNexis is a pioneering "global provider of business information" and has developed something called the "Media Coverage Sentiment Index" that evaluates quantity and tone of coverage, according to the company.
From LexisNexis Analytics press release:
In the past six weeks leading up to the two major U.S. political parties' national conventions, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was the subject of 38 percent more media coverage in the United States than Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), but the tone of each presidential candidate's coverage was remarkably similar during that same time frame, according to the LexisNexis(R) Analytics Media Coverage Sentiment Index.LexisNexis evaluated 17,455 stories that discussed Obama during the period of July 7 to August 17 in U.S. print, broadcast and online media outlets found that 34% of the coverage was positive, 35% was neutral and 31% was negative, the company says.
Of the 12,665 stories that discussed McCain during the same time frame and in the same U.S. media outlets, 33% were positive, 34% were neutral and 33% were negative, the company says.
More from the company release:
The findings support the assumption made by many U.S. political observers that Sen. Obama's campaign is attracting an unprecedented amount of media attention this year.I can't vouch for the company's conclusion that the "tone" of coverage of Obama and McCain is basically evenhanded, but the fact that Obama is getting nearly 40 percent more coverage says a lot about who the media is pushing to be the next president.
