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New York, July 11, 2008: As the nominating conventions approach, a clear split in the nature of coverage for the Obama and McCain campaigns has emerged with the media focusing on Obama?s image and McCain?s issues.

?This trend has been building for a while,? says Roland Schatz, President of Media Tenor International, ?but it has become particularly marked this week. The media love talking about Obama?s image and potential success, but when they talk about the issues, they talk about McCain.?

According to Media Tenor?s ?Slant-O-Meter? the only area in which Obama is preserving an advantage at this point is in the realm of polls and predictions. The Iraq war is benefiting neither candidate, but McCain has the advantage on the economy, taxes and foreign policy.

?This sort of trend leads to questions about candidate substance,? notes Schatz. ?Obama?s campaign was beset by image-related distractions this week including an entertainment program interview with his daughters that many said was inappropriate and controversy surrounding two upcoming speeches: his nomination acceptance speech which he?ll be doing at an open-air arena and the upcoming speech at the Brandenburg Gate. They?re designed to make him look like JFK, but the media isn?t sold on it.?

Because coverage on the upcoming speeches will last for some time, Schatz says the media must be convinced if Obama wants a positive image.

The continuing negative economic news is also still causing problems for both candidates.

?Even though the coverage of the economy improved a little bit this week, it didn?t do the candidates any favors. Neither Obama nor McCain has yet figured out how to capitalize on this issue,? Schatz says.

McCain did gain ground, however, by achieving better ratings on both the economy and taxation, topics he has previously split with Obama.

?We?ll see if this is a turning point or not,? Schatz says. ?Certainly there is a potential opportunity for McCain to redefine the election on his terms, but it will require him to master the economic issues in the media and the news might continue to be too negative for that.?

For the third time, International Media analysis company Media Tenor is offering a detailed analysis of the U.S. presidential campaign. TV news coverage of the leading Presidential contenders is scrutinized at a detailed level. ?The methodology was developed 15 years ago and has been successfully used not only to analyze the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Presidential campaigns, but also for International politics,? Schatz explains. Media Tenor?s Presidential Campaign Watch focuses not only on candidate standings, but also on topics and sources, while adding an international perspective. Results of Media Tenor studies will be regularly published on MediaChannel.org.

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