The networks nightly newscasts were nastiest to Howard Dean in their relatively scaled-down coverage of the early months of the presidential campaign. Media watchdog group Center for Media and Public Affairs says only 49 percent of on-air evaluations of Dean in 2003 were favorable. His eight opponents got rosier depictions: 78 percent favorable.
And the networks put less into covering the campaign: Airtime for presidential politics was down 62 percent from the year before the 1996 election, the last time an incumbent faced reelection.
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