President Barack Obama received better coverage in the mainstream media than former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney during their last frenzied week of campaigning, a new study reveals.
“In the final week, a noticeable change occurred: Obama’s coverage improved dramatically while Romney’s coverage stayed the same, but shrank in volume,’’ the respected
Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism reports.
“That week, fully 29 percent of the Obama stories were positive compared to 19 percent which were negative, a net plus of 10 points.
“That was the best week Obama had seen since the week of the Democratic National Convention in early September.’’
In contrast, 16 percent of Romney stories were positive compared with 33 percent that were negative, a difference of 17 points, Pew says.
There were also surges in negative coverage of Romney and Obama on the left-leaning MSNBC and the conservative Fox News Channel, according to Pew.
On MSNBC, negative coverage of Romney rocketed from 57 percent for most of October to 68 percent during the campaign’s final week.
Meanwhile, Fox News’s negative coverage of Obama zoomed from 47 percent to 56 percent.
Hurricane Sandy ended up being squarely in Obama’s corner, the study found.
“The disastrous storm, which inflicted its most severe damage on the United States on October 29, provided Obama with numerous opportunities to be seen in a presidential role rather than as a candidate,’’ Pew said.
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