Media NOT so nice to McCain

At least not in terms of amount of coverage, or lack thereof, for John McCain vs Barack Obama.

And, no, this is not some mainstream media corporate suit or talking head making this claim.

Rather, it’s the respected journalism analyst Tom Rosenstiel and his Project for Excellence in Journalism. Here’s the details:

For each of the weeks between June 9 and July 13, Obama had a much more significant media presence. …

Every week, Obama played an important role in more than two-thirds of the stories. For July 7-13, for example, Obama was a significant presence in 77 percent of the stories while McCain was in 48 percent, the PEJ said. …

“No matter how understandable it is given the newness of the candidate and the historical nature of Obama's candidacy, in the end it’s probably not fair to McCain,” Rosenstiel said.

And, it could backfire on Obama.

Rosenstiel said that if it continues, the election could wind up being a referendum on Obama. That raises the “gaffe quotient,” encourages right-wing 527s to get even more desperate, etc.

Or, it could backfire against Obama the other way, by letting Schmuck Talk Express™ fly under the radar.