In her recent New York Times article, Katherine Seelye reports that certain aspects
of media coverage about the respective Democratic rivals for their party's Presidential
nomination has changed in the last week. Previously, many believed that Senator
Barack Obama had assumed a significant lead over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, due
in part, to the different way they have been portrayed and scrutinized by the media.
Likewise, some observers credit the February 23rd episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live
with helping change some of the different ways the media have been covering the two
Senator Clinton had already been complaining that the media were scrutinizing
and criticizing her much more harshly than her opponent and taking a gentler approach to
Senator Obama. The television skit caricatured the difference between the their
respective treatment by reporters and many believe that combined with Ms. Clinton's
aggressive complaining about it, may account for some of the changes in coverage since
The Project for Excellence in Journalism uses empirical studies to evaluate news
media; their recent study of this issue included almost 50 different news sources such as
cable television, newspapers, radio, network television, and Internet websites. Their
conclusions was that the percentage of media stories critical about Mr. Obama had
previously been much less than those critical of Ms. Clinton, but that the situation has
changed considerably in the last two weeks. Mr. Obama has now had to respond to
several inquiries into supporters of his linked to criminal activity. In general, media
coverage about the political race has also declined, which some observers believe reflects
the fact that Obama has been projected as a heavy favorite; others suggest it may have
more to with the fact that no political primarie
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