Thu, Nov 6, 2008 10:53am ET

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The double standard continues; New report reveals further disparate coverage in McCain's favor

** For Complete Report, CLICK HERE **

Washington, DC - Media Matters for America today released a study revealing that while the media frequently covered the McCain campaign's claims about Sen. Barack Obama's ties to Chicago developer Antoin Rezko and former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, they almost completely ignored Sen. John McCain's involvement in land deals and his relationship with convicted Watergate felon G. Gordon Liddy. In April, Media Matters released a separate study showing an enormous disparity between coverage of Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. and coverage of McCain and Pastor John Hagee.

"Conservative cries of 'liberal media bias' are laughable," said J. Jioni Palmer, National Press Secretary for Media Matters. "The media showed a willingness to report every McCain claim about Obama. From Rezko to Ayers, McCain's attacks have driven media coverage while the media gave McCain a pass on stories that should have gotten their scrutiny."

Media Matters looked at election coverage in the five major newspapers -- the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post -- and the three evening network news broadcasts through Election Day, comparing the media's reporting of Obama's associations with Rezko and Ayers to the treatment of McCain's involvement in land deals and his association with Liddy. The results, available online in the report, show that while the major newspapers frequently mentioned Obama's ties to Ayers and Rezko, they rarely mentioned McCain's reported involvement in his donors' land dealings or his association with Liddy. Additionally, the three evening network news broadcasts mentioned Obama's ties to Ayers and Rezko several times, but never reported on McCain's association with Liddy or his reported facilitation of land deals that benefited donors.

Additionally, while the mainstream media have been busy covering the McCain campaign's attacks, conservative radio hosts have been pushing baseless lies and smears about Sen. Obama to their millions of listeners coast to coast.

KEY FINDINGS:

  • The Washington Post published two news articles and one opinion piece that mentioned McCain's ties to Liddy, compared to 58 news articles and 35 editorials or opinion pieces mentioning Obama and Ayers.
  • ABC's World News, the CBS Evening News, and NBC's Nightly News all failed to air a single report that mentioned McCain's association with Liddy, but collectively aired 25 reports mentioning Obama's association with Ayers.
  • The New York Times published one article and one editorial that mentioned McCain-facilitated land deals compared to 16 news articles and two opinion pieces mentioning Obama and Rezko.
  • ABC's World News, the CBS Evening News, and NBC's Nightly News all failed to air a single report that mentioned McCain-facilitated land deals, but collectively aired five reports mentioning Obama and Rezko.

** For Complete Report, CLICK HERE **

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