EDITOR’S NOTE, February 16, 2024: On February 15, Justice Department Counsel David Weiss indicted FBI informant Alexander Smirnov on two felony counts of making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record for claims made to the bureau. The charges are in relation to June 2020 FD-1023 form alleging President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden received a combined $10 million in a bribery scheme involving the Ukrainian energy company, Burisma.
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UPDATE, 08/11, 11:25 a.m. Eastern: Few things were going to eat into the precious airtime on the flagship morning and evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC and time to spend on the third Trump indictment. But something as apocalyptic-looking as the Hawaiian wildfires did just the trick. Between Thursday night and Friday morning, the networks only added 32 seconds to the coverage tally, putting the new total of time on the AM, PM, and Sunday shows at nearly 342 minutes (341:51).
Given the small increase, the third Trump indictment to Biden family corruption allegations remained at a 71-to-1 ratio with four minutes and 50 seconds on the Bidens. All 32 seconds came from ABC, raising their new sum to 126 minutes and 33 seconds.
The post continues below with updates from Wednesday and Thursday on Trump vs. Biden coverage.
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UPDATE, 08/10, 11:09 a.m. Eastern: Unsurprisingly, the tally for coverage of the third Trump indictment on ABC, CBS, and NBC further ballooned on Wednesday night and Thursday morning with an additional six minutes and 39 seconds, which puts the overall total at 341 minutes and 19 seconds.
In what also shouldn't be a surprise, there wasn't any mention of Biden family scandals, leaving the total over the same time period (now the evening of August 1 through the morning of August 10) at four minutes and 50 seconds.
That said, the ratio of Trump indictment coverage to mentions of Biden scandals in this time period remained at an astounding 71-to-1 split.
All three networks added roughly two minutes of new coverage with ABC adding two minutes and 14 seconds (raising their overall number to 126 minutes and one second), CBS expanding to 97 minutes and 29 seconds thanks to 2:20 of additional time, and NBC tacking on two minutes and five seconds for a new grand total of 117 minutes and 49 seconds.
The post continues below with Wednesday’s Trump vs. Biden coverage update.
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UPDATE, 08/09, 12:28 p.m. Eastern: Between the Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning flagship news shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC, the 331 minutes and 56 seconds number ticked up slightly to nearly 335 minutes (344:40) on the third Trump indictment.
This new numbers is 71 times larger than the time these same networks have spent in the same time period (the evening of August 1 through the morning of August 9) on any and all Biden scandals, which remained unchanged at four minutes and 50 seconds.
ABC increased its tally ever so slightly to 123 minutes and 47 seconds, making it 190 times smaller than its Biden time count (39 seconds) in the same period. NBC had a small increase to 115 minutes and 44 seconds, expanding a lead over its Biden scandal mentions to an almost 82-to-1 disparity. CBS only grew by 22 seconds to 95 minutes and nine seconds, keeping the Trump vs. Biden ratio at 34-to-1.
The post Tuesday night continues below with an update to include disparities in each network’s Trump vs. Biden coverage.
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Since NewsBusters’s last time count on coverage of the third Trump indictment across the flagship morning and evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC, the number exploded to over five hours at roughly 332 minutes (331:56) from the evening of August 1 (when the indictment was unveiled) through the morning of August 8.
This new total — which last stood Friday morning at 162 minutes and 16 minutes — includes the addition of the Sunday morning political talk shows.
In that same time, there’s only been four minutes and 50 seconds on these same shows alluding to Hunter Biden scandals and any possible ties involving his father, President Biden. Pit these two numbers against each other and the Trump number was roughly 69 times larger (or 68.7 to be more exact).
Last time, we found the Trump coverage was 19 times larger than what was allotted to the closed-door House testimony from Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Devon Archer (eight minutes and 32 seconds). Fast-forward through Tuesday morning and that ratio exploded to roughly 39 times larger (or 38.9).
Worse yet, these networks have yet to spend a single second on the allegations of bribery against now-President Biden and the Ukrainian energy company, Burisma.
ABC kept its spot for first place with over two hours of coverage (122:56), including an astounding 42 minutes on This Week. In contrast, their Biden scandal number was 189 times smaller at just 39 seconds (and 25 times smaller when compared to the overall Biden tally).
This scant nod was thanks to 2024 GOP presidential candidate Doug Burgum invoking Hunter’s life of ruin as host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos fixated on Trump.
NBC remained in second with 114 minutes and 13 seconds versus its Biden tally of only 85 seconds (or almost an 81-to-one-split and 24-to-one for all ABC/CBS/NBC Biden coverage). The rare Biden time included this lament from NBC’s Chuck Todd about Republican “whataboutism” with Hunter vs. Trump.
While still substantial, CBS was a ways back in third with 94 minutes and 47 seconds on the third Trump indictment (armed with segments from anti-Trump author and correspondent Robert Costa and January 6-obsessed correspondent Scott MacFarlane).
Though still scant, the Biden coverage blew away ABC and NBC with two minutes and 46 seconds. All but five seconds thanks to Face the Nation fill-in host Major Garrett discussing the Hunter Biden investigation by the U.S. Attorney in Delaware with former Attorney General Bill Barr. In turn, the Trump vs. Biden coverage ratio was smallest, but still clocked out at a 34-to-1 split (and 20 times larger than all Biden coverage).
The liberal media were hellbent on waging a two-front war against viewers and voters as, on one front, they’re using any story to downplay and ignore any and all Biden scandals. And, on the second, they hoped to make the election about prosecuting Trump instead of topics voters actually care about. Due to the third indictment, the liberal media believe they’re well on their way to doing just that.
