Analysis: Media give Ron Paul the shaft

Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul lament that the media are ignoring their candidate, despite his strong showing at several straw polls, his national name recognition and his fundraising ability.

Turns out, they might have a point.

A media analysis by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism counted the number of stories written about Paul and found him to be one of the least covered candidates in the race.

"From January 1-August 14, Paul has been a dominant newsmaker in only 27 campaign stories," the analysis found. "That is less than one-quarter of the media attention generated by former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (120 stories), who is the top newsmaker among Republican candidates. And he has received 25% as much coverage as Bachmann, the Minnesota Congresswoman."

The cries of bias against Paul reached a fever pitch over the weekend when the Texas congressman, considered a "fringe candidate" when he announced his run for the White House in 2007, came in second behind Michele Bachmann in the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa.

"Citizens from across the country have been reaching out and demanding that the media cover Dr. Paul," Paul spokesman Jesse Benton told Yahoo!'s Joe Pompeo earlier this week. "And it is helping."