PITTSBURGH -- Although Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul continues to generate internet buzz and coverage via less traditional media outlets, the mainstream media maintains its lack of Dr. Paul's campaign.

A survey of Sunday newspapers (conducted via Google News and the Pittsburgh newspapers) shows that Dr. Paul has received little or no coverage from the mainstream news outlets this weekend.

A Sunday Google News search shows only two references to Ron Paul, with both of these being Letters to the Editor to small New York newspapers (The Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin and the Elmira Star Gazette). All other weekend Google News stories regarding Ron Paul were either spoofs, such as "Ron Paul Avatar Elected US President in Second Life," or editorials written by online news organizations.

Reading through the Pittsburgh newspapers (as a sample of what Americans were reading about in their Sunday papers) provided a similar picture. The somewhat liberal Pittsburgh Post-Gazette provided editorials regarding Barack Obama and President George Bush. The more conservative Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editorial section offered even more election coverage, with extensive pieces about Hillary Clinton, Fred Thompson, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson. Most of these pieces were not positive, but they were coverage nonetheless. (The Tribune-Review did run an editorial piece in Monday's paper titled "Why pummel Ron Paul," which discusses how some Republicans are looking to exclude Dr. Paul from debates because they disagree with his political beliefs and straight-talking attitude).

National coverage of Ron Paul was also lacking. An AP article titled "New Hampshire GOP battle each other," discusses New Hampshire Republicans preparing for Tuesday's debate, with no mention of Dr. Paul. Typically conservative Fox News offers only two articles regarding Ron Paul, with one of these being Dr. Paul's candidacy announcement and the other discussing how Dr. Paul's campaign hopes to use the internet to further his cause. ABC News ran a June 2 story regarding Dr. Paul's online popularity, but that was the only mainstream media coverage that Ron Paul's campaign received over the weekend.

This lack of mainstream media coverage has prompted an online, grassroots campaign working to promote Ron Paul's candidacy (refer to articles Presidential Candidate Ron Paul Gains Internet Popularity and Analysis: Is Ron Paul Internet Buzz Real or Spam?) Blogs and bulletin boards around the net have been devoted to discussing Ron Paul's views on the issues and Ron Paul has been one of the most searched for phrases on blog site Technorati.com.

 

This internet buzz has prompted other media sources to talk with Ron Paul. Dr. Paul has recently been interviewed by talk show hosts Bill Maher and Dennis Miller and is scheduled to visit Jon Stewart's popular The Daily Show on June 4.