A new study covering the journalism of the recent scandals regarding ACORN blames right-wing media blogs and conservatives for stirring up controversy about the community organizing group during last year’s presidential campaign and the first months of the Obama administration.

The study, “Manipulating the Public Agenda: Why Acorn Was in the News, and What the News Got Wrong,” says a well-orchestrated, anti-ACORN blitz appeared in October 2008, reports Barb Barrett.

It continued in a “conservative media echo chamber” through the following months, say the authors, Peter Dreier, director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Program at Occidental College; and Christopher R. Martin, a journalism professor at the University of Northern Iowa.

They report that firms created front groups, such as the Consumer Rights League and the Employment Policies Institute, to attack ACORN on battles against predatory lending and in favor of “living wage” laws.

More after the jump.

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Would the press treat Beverly Perdue better if another woman ran?

The answer is yes, according to a 2000 study of female gubernatorial candidates and the presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

As noted in the Huffington Post today, the study of newspaper articles showed that women were covered better in races with other women than when they were the only female candidate.

White House Project founder Marie Wilson wrote that there was strength in numbers:

What we discovered is that if there was only one woman in the race, she was always looked at more personally and less substantively by both male and female reporters. The media was more apt to look at her appearance than her positions on issues.

The study showed that Dole received significantly less coverage on the issues than any of the male candidates that year.

When big news breaks, who should get the scoop: Reporters from North Carolina or New York?

Attorney General Roy Cooper's handling of the Duke lacrosse case was divided on that question.

On the six-on-one-hand side, Cooper reserved the front two rows for local reporters at Thursday's press conference, as noted by News 14 Carolina's Tim Boyum on his blog:

That meant Katie Couric the rest of the "big" names were stuck in the back. On top of that once Coop started taking questions he allowed local media to ask the first 7-8 questions ignoring Couric's eager hand waving in the air.

On the half-dozen-on-the-other side, Andrea Verykoukis complains on The Progressive Pulse that Cooper spoke about the results of his investigation with "60 Minutes" instead of a local reporter:

It's pretty easy. If it doesn't seem so, close your eyes, pretend we're all important New Yorkers or Californians and tell us more. Don't worry, the national press could pick it up from here. I'm tired of it being the other way around.