The Project for Excellence in Journalism has released their weekly analysis of the media's presidential campaign coverage. The report entitled, "McCain Wins the Coverage Battle as Media Move to Anoint Him," looks at major media coverage from January 28 through February 3. The report states, "With Florida winner John McCain getting about 75% more coverage than Mitt Romney, and with Mike Huckabee almost invisible, the press appeared conspicuously close to turning McCain into the presumptive nominee last week." The report goes on to say:

"On the Democratic side--where Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were virtually equal in media attention for the third consecutive week--the tone and level of coverage anticipated a long and intense battle. The message here, which began two days after Obama's victory in South Carolina, was that there would be no verdict soon. And for the second week in a row a non-candidate (this time, Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy) played an important role in the Democratic narrative."

In addition to how much the candidates were covered the report also noted that election coverage dominated all other coverage:

"The race for the White House consumed 49% of the network news airtime, 59% of the radio time, and 76% of the cable newshole. Since the beginning of the year, the campaign has swamped all other news, averaging 46% of the newshole per week. In all of 2007, only one story ever reached that level and that was the Virginia Tech massacre, which accounted for 51% of the coverage for just one week."

Unfortunately, the study does not address whether or not the amount of news coverage provided the public with important information about the candidates, such as platforms and voting records.