Report: Bush's network coverage negative

WASHINGTON, July 11 (UPI) -- A U.S. media watchdog group says coverage by the three TV networks of the first 100 days of President Bush's second term was largely negative.

An analysis released Monday by the Washington-based Center for Media and Public Affairs says more than two-thirds of the news stories on Bush on ABC, NBC and CBS were negative.

The coverage of the second term, however, was better than that of the first 100 days of the president's first term, when it was 71 percent negative, The Washington Times reported quoting the CMPA analysis.

The newspaper said coverage of President Clinton, by comparison, was 59 percent negative during his first term.

The three networks also seem to be boycotting Bush during the second term, the report said. He rated 619 stories during the study period in 2001 -- but just 250 stories this year, it said.

"Presidents tend to get bad coverage during their second terms. The press is sick of them by then. The Iraq war and the weapons-of-mass-destruction question was a particular factor for Mr. Bush this time," said CMPA director Robert Lichter.