Study Of Politics Finds Coverage More Negative Than Campaigns

A study by the University of Missouri finds that news coverage of the presidential campaign is more negative than the campaigns themselves. Communications professor William Benoit says news stories they examined during the Democratic presidential campaign this year largely focused on the public opinion polls, the horse race. Stories on character came second. Policy came in third. Benoit says some of that is understandable. He adds a review of the New York Times coverage of presidential campaigns since 1952 follows the same trend: horse race first, character second and policy third.