On Monday's Erin Burnett Outfront, and again on Tuesday's New Day, CNN ran a full report which devoted more than twice as much time to the more liberal candidate, Stacey Abrams, who is competing in Georgia's Democratic primary for governor without mentioning the GOP candidates at all.
Additionally, the report left the impression that Abrams was not allowed to attend an event at the governor's mansion in 1991 because she was black even though, in fact, she was allowed into the event after the guest list was checked.
By contrast, MSNBC Live ran a report which covered both Democratic candidates about equally, and then just barely mentioned the Republicans near the end.
On New Day, at 7:43 a.m. Eastern, co-host Alisyn Camerota gave Abrams top billing as she introduced the piece: "Among the most watched races, the one for Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia. One candidate wants to become the nation's first black female governor. Here's CNN's Kyung Lah."
After opening with a clip of Abrams, correspondent Kyung Lah began by labeling her as "the Democratic candidate for governor" as if she were already the party nominee.
Lah noted that Abrams would be the first black woman elected governor and then recalled an incident from 28 years ago when she felt that she had been discriminated against because of her race. Here's Lah: "Trying to crack the ceiling in a place that once shut her out. In 1991, as her high school's valedictorian, Abrams was invited to the governor's mansion."
Then came a soundbite of Abrams recalling that a security guard "refused to allow us inside."
Not mentioned in the CNN report was that she did get to attend the event after the guard checked the guest list and found her name. Also of note, a former aide of then-Democratic Govenror Zell Miller has questioned the claim.
After CNN had spent two minutes and 10 seconds -- or more than 68 percent of the report -- on Abrams, Lah finally got around to informing viewers of the other candidate, Stacey Evans, who would be the first white woman elected governor of Georgia, but the CNN correspondent spent less than half as much time on her.
Lah gave Evans 50 seconds on her own, and then concluded the report with 10 seconds about both candidates.
Monday night, Burnett had similarly focused on Abrams as she set up the same report.
By contrast, on Tuesday morning's MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle, correspondent Catie Beck ran a piece that went back and forth between both candidates throughout and showed a number of side-by-side images of the two candidates.
