Howie Kurtz notes a study that concludes:

If you were watching the network evening news in June, July and August, you would have seen somewhat favorable coverage of John Kerry — six out of 10 evaluations were positive — and somewhat unfavorable coverage of President Bush.

If you were watching Fox News Channel’s 6 p.m. newscast, you would have seen about the same coverage of the president. But Kerry’s evaluations were negative by a 5 to 1 margin.

I love the specific example he gives of Fox being unfavorable to Kerry:

Some of the anti-Kerry comments come from the show’s commentators, not its reporters. On Thursday, after airing straightforward news reports on a speech by Iraq’s interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, and Kerry’s criticism of the remarks, Hume asked his pundit panel for reaction. “Disgraceful,” said Charles Krauthammer. Michael Barone called it “bad politics.” Mort Kondracke accused Kerry of “pessimism.”

Ah. So much of the Fox News conservative bias comes from commentators telling the truth when Kerry has royally screwed up — which, lately, is more often than not.

The lesson is clear, Fox News. If you want to have a reputation as truly “fair and balanced,” then the next time John Kerry makes a disgraceful, pessimistic statement that reeks of bad politics — make sure your talking heads say something nice.

I have already observed that the media sheep are bleating in unison that the Swift Boat Vets’ claims have been debunked as “unsubstantiated.” Beldar debunks the media’s herd-mentality claim as unsubstantiated — and challenges you to prove him wrong.

Go ahead. Make Beldar’s day.