I like many things about Obama, and after a lengthy and transparent decision process, I found myself supporting him. Though unconvinced of his divinity, I hope that his economic plans succeed, since to hope otherwise is to wish greater misery on my country. Still, I think the press cheerleading for Obama has been embarrassingly overt,* so I’m hardly surprised at this news flash from today’s Washington Post.
The networks have given President Obama more coverage than George W. Bush and Bill Clinton combined in their first months — and more positive assessments to boot.
In a study to be released today, the Center for Media and Public Affairs and Chapman University found the nightly newscasts devoting nearly 28 hours to Obama’s presidency in the first 50 days. (Bush, by contrast, got nearly eight hours.) Fifty-eight percent of the Obama evaluations were positive on the ABC, CBS and NBC broadcasts, compared with 33 percent positive in the comparable period of Bush’s tenure and 44 percent positive for Clinton. (Evaluations by officials from the administration or political parties were not counted.)
*This is particularly ironic in that some of the Obama cheerleaders have blasted their media bros for alleged lapdogging during the run-up to the Iraq War. Guess they didn’t learn a lesson from that period.
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