Allahpundit finds the latest effort from Media Matters to convince people that the establishment media is biased in favor of John McCain over Barack Obama to be “[s]o unspeakably lame is this that I can’t even work up a good head of schadenfreude over it.”
But let us speak of it for a moment. Allah does not mention it, but folks on the Left are citing the latest content analysis from the supposedly conservative Center for Media and Public Affairs as the smoking gun that the media thrill has gone from Obama to McCain. However, the latest content analysis from MediaTenor (which runs on the leftist MediaChannel.org) shows that Obama maintained better coverage, though the gap narrowed. From the full, downloadable report:
As the reduction makes the dates tough to read, the post-primary coverage is shown in the last six weeks for each candidate. By this accounting, Obama has generally received more favorable coverage than McCain. Even in the last week studied, where Obama got net negative coverage, McCain got more coverage and more negative coverage.
Moreover, neither content analysis reflects the full coverage of Obama’s World Tour, which appeared to give him at least a temporary bounce in the polls, which suggests generally positive coverage.
In sum, Media Matters has the CMPA data to back its claim, but the picture is a mite more complex than that.  Plus, as Allah notes, however a content analyst wants to mark statements in a story, polls show that people see the media as favoring Obama.
Bonus: Jim Treacher checks in at HotAir.
Comment by TheGeezer on 7/29 @ 12:44 pm #
“the media thrill has gone…to McCain.”
Pardon me, I have to go outside and somehow void the dissonance….
Comment by MayBee on 7/29 @ 12:51 pm #
Oh my. The earthquakes have followed me here.
Comment by JD on 7/29 @ 12:56 pm #
I heard there may have been an earthquake in LA. If so, I hope happyfeet, Darleen, MayBee, etal are alright.
Comment by afall on 7/29 @ 1:00 pm #
Sausage fest!
Comment by Karl on 7/29 @ 1:05 pm #
Yep, they’re reporting the quake now. Best wishes to all. There’s a comment from hf on it nearby, so I am guessing he is not trapped someplace.
Comment by Ric Locke on 7/29 @ 1:25 pm #
USGS sez 5.8 on the Richter scale. CalTech’s “shake map” says most of the LA basin is in Region IV, severe shaking but little damage given modern building standards.
Regards,
Ric
Comment by BJTex on 7/29 @ 1:54 pm #
I agree with the guy in the hotair comments just below Treacher: If this is what Soros money is paying for, he needs to go kick some ass. That was a laughable, childish, amateurish effort that Jib-Jab would have spit on.
Keep it up, fools!
Comment by Roy Lofquist on 7/29 @ 2:03 pm #
The idea that you can distinguish between favorable and unfavorable coverage in any kind of definitive way seems to me to be a bit of a chimera. e.g.,
“Fred Hickenlooper was the run away winner in the prestigious annual rat shoot contest at the Shady Nook landfill.”
Reads different for PETA, NRA and folks who insist no matter what you call it is still the town dump.
Comment by mojo on 7/29 @ 2:31 pm #
7.7 miles directly beneath the Western Hills Country Club.
Comment by Mikey NTH on 7/29 @ 3:44 pm #
#4 – PTW.
The long primary is the greatest danger to a candidate running on hype and build up. At sometime the magician better pull a rabbit out of his hat or the crowd is going to turn ugly awfully fast; or the summer block-buster movie better be real good or make its costs-plus in the first weekend.
The public is too media saturated to stand for too long a build-up. (Seriously – how many tune into the Superbowl for the game and how many tune for the party and the commercials?)
Comment by Neo on 7/29 @ 3:50 pm #
This is a week old but …
Comment by cybrludite on 7/29 @ 3:56 pm #
Gotta love the folks who claim the media is right-wing because the evening news doesn’t start off with a chorus of “The Internationale”…
Comment by B Moe on 7/29 @ 4:09 pm #
Does the study differentiate between Official Authorized Obama News and unauthorized ambush?
http://www.thelocal.de/13337/20080728/
Barack Obama says he was “played” and “hustled” by German tabloid daily Bild after they published a rather embarrassing unauthorized article the day after his popular speech in Berlin last week.
I can’t believe what this fucking clown is this close to the White House.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 7/29 @ 5:04 pm #
Barack Obama says he was “played†and “hustled†by German tabloid daily Bild
So, let me get this straight: he admits getting “played” by a a crappy German tabloid, but wants us to believe he has the stones to “negotiate” with Dinnerjacket, Chavez, and Kim?
Mmm-kay.
Comment by Mikey NTH on 7/29 @ 5:10 pm #
What SBP said.
They didn’t worship? Well they shall be cast into the outer darkness/off the campaign plane.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 7/29 @ 5:11 pm #
Someone really needs to make a compilation vid of all of his “I was played”, “I used poor judgement”, “This is not the xxx I knew”, “I had no idea yyy was a freakin’ terrorist” bits and put it on YouTube.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/29 @ 5:45 pm #
Me I do not think the media is in the tank for McCain. NPR was slavering over his skin biopsy this morning like a dog with a new bone. Those people have no dignity I don’t think.
Comment by Sdferr on 7/29 @ 5:56 pm #
RTO did a nice mash-up of Obama saying “No. That’s not what I said.” to various interviewers, on his blog. It was very effective I thought.