A new study from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism suggests that the media is significantly harder on President Obama than it is on any of his Republican challengers. The study stands in stark opposition to the right’s usual claims that “liberal media bias” unfairly props up the president. Politico reports:
Pew found that just 9 percent of the president’s coverage was positive, while 34 percent was negative — a stark contrast to the 32 percent positive coverage and 20 percent negative that it found Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the most covered Republican, received.
The top four most favorably covered candidates, the study found, were all tea party favorites: Perry was followed by Palin, with 31 percent positive coverage and 22 percent negative; Michele Bachmann, with 31 percent positive coverage and 23 percent negative; and Herman Cain, with 28 percent positive coverage and 23 percent negative.
There are several factors contributing to the disparity in coverage. As president, Obama is constantly connected to to the faltering economy. Furthermore, Obama is constantly under attack from the Republican candidates, Congress, and even fellow Democrats; this constant criticism naturally leads to negative media coverage.
Still, the study debunks many Republican cries of unfair coverage by what they derisively refer to “lamestream” media. Sarah Palin’s argument that the President has “about 90 percent of the media still there in his back pocket,” or Anita Perry’s complaint that her husband has been “brutalized” by the press ring hollow based on the Pew study. Overall, it seems that we can add liberal media bias to the long list of Republican claims that are not backed up by the facts.
