Obama received the most positive campaign news coverage

Washington, Dec.7 (ANI): U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has received the most positive campaign news coverage on the main network news shows in the 20-year history of such studies conducted by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA).

A Washington Times report says Obama received 68 percent positive evaluations from the four major networks.

"Obama's positive press is the strongest showing CMPA has ever recorded for a presidential candidate since we began monitoring election news in 1988," said Robert Lichter, director of the non-partisan research group, which is affiliated with the George Mason University.

By contrast, his Republican rival, John McCain almost set the record for hostile press coverage.

Just 33 percent of the stories on McCain were positive in nature -- "the worst showing" since former President George H.W. Bush received only 29 percent positive press in 1988, Lichter said.

The study analyzed 1,197 election stories from August 23 to November 4 on "ABC World News Tonight," "NBC Nightly News," "CBS Evening News" and the first half-hour of "Fox Special Report."

On average in the last 20 years, Democratic presidential hopefuls received coverage that was fairly balanced: about half positive and half negative. However, over the same period, Republicans received 34 percent positive and 66 percent negative press.

NBC was the most Obama-friendly of the four networks, with 73 percent of the coverage being favorable. Fox News was the sole network to mix it up with Obama, with only 37 percent of the stories on him positive in tone, although that was only slightly less favorable than the 41 percent favorability of the network's McCain coverage.

Fox also took him to task for some lofty trappings.

A Pew Research Center survey released in late October found, for example, that 70 percent of voters agreed that journalists "wanted" Obama to win the White House; the figure was 62 percent even among Democratic respondents.(ANI)