Bias by the Minute

Political scandals make for juicy journalism, but apparently a politician being cleared of wrong doing isn’t even worth a mention. When the initial story of Rick Perry’s indictment broke in August 2014, ABC, CBS and NBC devoted 25 minutes in just two days to topic, speculating that the controversy could “end any chance” for Perry in 2016. But when Perry was cleared of any wrongdoing, all three…

A Media Research Center study of ABC, CBS and NBC evening news coverage finds Ted Cruz has actually received a negative bump in the week since Iowa, garnering fewer minutes of total TV news airtime (16 minutes, vs. 21 minutes before the caucuses) and a significantly smaller share of GOP campaign coverage than he had in the week leading up to the caucuses (17.8%, vs. 24.8% earlier). Not only did…

A new analysis by the Media Research Center finds Trump continued to receive the vast majority of TV news coverage throughout the month of January, leading up to tonight’s crucial Iowa caucuses. An examination of all campaign coverage on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts from January 1 through January 31 finds Trump received nearly 157 minutes of airtime, or almost 60 percent of the total…

After devoting nearly ten minutes of air time to Donald Trump’s boycott of the Republican debate on Thursday’s evening newscasts (rather than preview the debate itself), on Friday morning, the three broadcast networks offered over 21 minutes of political coverage continuing to hype Trump’s absence while only managing 7 minutes for the GOP contenders who participated in the event. 

In the latest sign that the liberal media loves the candidacy of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC devoted nearly 10 minutes of their Thursday evening newscasts to capitulating to the “master of stealing the show” in Trump but only one minute and 29 seconds for previewing the actual debate with the top seven candidates that don’t include Trump. …

As of Friday, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump’s seven-month-old candidacy has been the focus of an incredible 684 minutes of coverage on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts, far more than any of his GOP rivals. But amid that sea of Trump news, the networks have spent only about nine minutes (1.3% of Trump’s overall coverage) discussing the candidate’s clearly documented past support for…

Undercover journalists from both sides of the political spectrum could be severely limited by a Texas grand jury indictment against pro-life activists. The charges are so sweeping that they could affect the entire journalism industry, everything from the network news to environmental activists. Yet, out of the three broadcast evening news shows, only CBS Evening News has noticed the “dangerous…

A new Media Research Center study of every broadcast network evening newscast of 2015 documents last year's news agenda: heavy on crime, terrorism and weather, but light on Democratic scandals, ObamaCare's failings, the out-of-control national debt, sanctuary cities and Planned Parenthood's grotesqueries. In their Campaign '16 coverage, the networks highlighted Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton,…

After a five-week hiatus, the Republican presidential candidates meet tomorrow night for their next prime time debate, moderated by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Based on how the various networks handled the first four debates, viewers of Tuesday's CNN debate should expect: 1) the questions will be aimed at getting the candidates to fight with one another; 2) Donald Trump will take more airtime than any of…

An MRC analysis of interviews from January 1 to December 4 finds the broadcast networks have pounded the candidates with a blizzard of hostile and left-wing questions.

The networks are never willing to let a good Trump controversy go to waste. The morning and evening news broadcasts on ABC, CBS and NBC have dedicated a whopping 105 minutes (1 hour and 45 minutes) to criticism of Trump’s comments about restricting Muslim immigration, since Trump made the comments on December 7.

Acting as though the latest news the war against ISIS, new developments in the Hillary Clinton scandal or any other story barely existed, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC devoted a whopping 24 minutes and three seconds of their Tuesday evening newscasts to obsessing over Donald Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States. Not surprisingly, NBC Nightly News led the way…

The Kansas City Royals may have won Major League Baseball’s World Series, but the World Series lost when it came to network news coverage of professional sports championships. MRC’s analysis of the three evening news broadcasts shows that in 2015, ABC, CBS and NBC overwhelmingly favored coverage of the NFL Super Bowl, with 59 minutes of coverage.