A new report on media coverage of the presidential candidates says that while the television networks may have dated Howard Dean only to marry John Kerry after Dean's scream and subsequent nosedive from grace, the media honeymoon's over with Kerry, now, too. "The report by MediaChannel.org and Media Tenor reveals the relationship between Kerry and the three networks' nightly news programs took a dive last week after a month of positive coverage for the frontrunner. Meanwhile, the Democrats' other John, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, received more positive reporting from ABC, CBS and NBC than in any other week since his campaign for the US presidency began."
MediaChannel/Media Tenor says there's "a virtual network blackout of Democratic candidates' stances on the political issues that matter most to Americans." Only 7.4 percent of NBC, CBS and ABC's nightly news coverage of all the candidates for the 2004 presidential is devoted to their policy positions in general. The opposite is true for coverage of the incumbent. From February 1 through 19, policy statements by President George Bush make up 37.4 percent of all network news statements about the GOP candidate.
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