Liberal bias remains pronounced and heavy-handed in coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign.
“Voters who have relied on the network evening newscasts for information about the 2016 presidential candidates saw four times more airtime devoted to controversies involving presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump than to the scandals surrounding his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton,” wrote Rich Noyes, research director for the Media Research Center.
The conservative press watchdog released a new study Monday revealing that news organizations “feasted on Trump controversies” while conveniently ignoring questionable issues about Mrs. Clinton. The newscasts dwelled on claims Mr. Trump’s fans were violent, or that the candidate has made “sexist” remarks, among 14 other tabloid-style topics.
“The only Clinton scandal to receive more than a minimal amount of attention from the networks during the primaries was the ongoing investigation of Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server and her mishandling of classified information while serving as Secretary of State,” Mr. Noyes said. “The networks paid little or no attention to a host of other Clinton controversies that likely would have been big news if they had been associated with her GOP opponent.”
Analysts at the organization reviewed all 1,099 stories on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts that addressed the presidential campaign between Jan. 1 through June 7, including weekends. This was an enormous amount of content: 2,137 minutes of campaign coverage, or more than one-fourth of all evening news airtime during this period.
Mr. Trump was the subject of nearly half it, or 1,068 minutes. Mrs. Clinton warranted 583 minutes, and Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, 366 minutes of coverage.
The tone of the coverage itself reveals bias. Forty percent of Mr. Trump’s coverage was negative, dwelling on assorted controversies surrounding his candidacy.
“Only 18 percent of Clinton’s coverage (105 minutes) was spent discussing similar controversies, as network reporters paid scant attention to stories that would have garnered far more airtime had Trump been involved,” Mr. Noyes stated.
Find the complete study here.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.