Press wants Obama to win White House race: Survey

Washington, Oct 25 : Seventy percent of voters say that the media wants Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama to win the presidential election while just nine percent said the press favored McCain.

According to a Pew Research Center survey of 1,003 adults conducted from October 17-20, among Republican respondents, the figure was 90 percent, and even 62 percent of Democratic respondents agreed with the idea that "most journalists are pulling for Obama."

"In recent presidential campaigns, voters repeatedly have said they thought journalists favored the Democratic candidate over the Republican," the survey said.

In the 2004 presidential race, half the respondents thought the press wanted John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, to triumph over incumbent President Bush; 22 percent said journalists favored Bush, the Washington Times reported.

Similar trends emerged in the past four elections, according to Pew. Starting in 1992, 52 percent of the respondents said the press-favored then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton and 17 percent said journalists favored President George H.W. Bush.

McCain shrugs the possible bias off for the most part.

"Ah, listen, I'm not going to complain about the press corps," he said in an interview with The Washington Times, although he acknowledged that journalists appear to be chummy with Obama.

Some journalists have gotten concerned. On Friday, PBS media analyst Jeffrey Brown wondered whether some in the press "have essentially started to treat this race like it's over."

Los Angeles Times political writer Robin Abcarian agreed, saying: "I do think that's a legitimate concern. And I have worried about that myself."

An analysis of 2,412 print, broadcast and Web-based campaign stories by the Project for Excellence in Journalism revealed that recent coverage of McCain has been "heavily unfavorable -- and has become more so over time."

ANI