From the NewsMax.com Staff

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Columbia Study: Media Reports Favor Kerry by Almost 2 to 1

A study of the major media by the Project for Excellence in Journalism at liberal Columbia University finds that news stories are favoring John Kerry by a ratio of almost 2 to 1.

As the presidential campaign has turned to the final stretch, news reports have become increasingly biased.

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The Boston Globe reported Wednesday that the "survey released yesterday ... found that 59 percent of the stories that were primarily about Bush from Oct. 1-14 were negative in tone, compared to only 25 percent of the stories about Kerry. And while 34 percent of the Kerry coverage was favorable, a mere 14 percent of the president's coverage put him in a positive light. The survey examined 817 stories from The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Columbus Dispatch, and The Miami Herald; the evening and morning news programs on ABC, CBS, and NBC; PBS's nightly newscast, CNN's NewsNight With Aaron Brown; and the Fox News Channel's Special Report With Brit Hume."

One can only imagine how much more that coverage would favor Kerry had Fox, which offers more balanced coverage, not been included in the study.

"I have no doubt that people who perceive the press as liberal are going to see evidence of this in those numbers," Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, told the Globe. "My own view is that the inside-baseball, drama-critic mentality is at play here, and it's the same mentality that helped Bush four years ago."

Chuck Todd, editor of the Hotline, chalked up the favorable coverage of Kerry to Bill Clinton's former press secretary Mike McCurry, who joined the Kerry campaign.

Editor's note: