According to the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, Fox News Channel’s “Special Report” has something to crow about.
The CMPA examined the three network evening newscasts, along with the first half-hour of “Special Report,” and examined how they treated the GOP candidates. The findings? The horse race gets more coverage than the issues, all of the candidates except Mitt Romney received mostly favorable coverage by all of the outlets, and the outlet that came the closest to being balanced was “Special Report.”
CBS had the most positive portrayals — 57% positive vs. 43% negative, partly because of its highly favorable (89% positive) evaluations of Ron Paul. FOX had the most balanced overall coverage with 52% positive vs. 48% negative comments. NBC was the most negative overall with 27% positive vs. 73% negative coverage, followed closely by ABC with 32% positive vs. 68% negative coverage. Both NBC and ABC featured 85% negative comments on Romney.
Advertisement
Caveats abound, of course. “Special Report” is on cable, not broadcast, and it isn’t apples to apples to compare half of an hour-long broadcast to a half-hour broadcast.