Bold moments, pushback, wisecracks and nimble policy statements tend to yield a fascinated and often devoted audience. So it is no wonder that the hallmark campaign style of Donald Trump has much appeal for the nation’s major broadcasters.
“Two weeks after the first GOP presidential debate of campaign 2016, the broadcast networks continue to obsess over Donald Trump to the near-exclusion of the other sixteen Republican presidential candidates,” reports Rich Noyes, senior editor for Newsbusters.com, a conservative media watchdog.
An analysis of the ABC, CBS and NBC evening news broadcasts during the two weeks prior to the August 6 debate revealed that Mr. Trump accounted for 55 percent of all GOP candidate airtime.
“After the debate, Trump’s share of the coverage rose even higher, to an astonishing 72% of all GOP airtime,” Mr. Noyes says.
And here are the numbers:
From July 24 through August 6, the analysis found Mr. Trump accrued 26 minutes, 40 seconds of coverage - compared to 22 minutes, 16 seconds combined for all the other GOP candidates. In the next tow weeks, the other GOP hopefuls collectively garnered 27 minutes, 38 seconds of airtime, - and Mr. Trump almost 70 minutes.
“The networks even found Trump more newsworthy than Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who received a total of 40 minutes of coverage from August 7-20,” Mr. Noyes says.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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