The “Big Three” broadcast networks could not get enough of President Trump’s 12-year-old tax returns, outlined in a breathless report by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, which amounted to very little.
“Despite a complete lack of newsworthiness, the morning news shows of ABC, CBS and NBC on March 15 spent 20 minutes and 28 seconds speculating about President Donald Trump’s tax returns based on two pages that even they had to admit were certainly not scandalous in any way,’ ” reported Mike Ciandella, an analyst for Newsbusters.org, a conservative press watchdog.
“On March 14, Rachel Maddow revealed that her much-hyped excerpt from Trump’s 2005 tax returns was completely inconsequential and revealed nothing relevant. Nothing good, nothing bad. Just nothing. It was so little payoff for so much hype that even CNN mocked Maddow,” he noted.
Ms. Maddow’s report essentially revealed that Mr. Trump made $150 million that year, and paid $38 million in taxes.
“If all we get tonight is that Donald Trump paid $38 million to America’s government, that’s a good night for Donald Trump, I’m sorry,” joked Van Jones, a CNN prime-time host. “I was hoping and praying that it would show, not only that he paid no taxes, he actually charged the government and got money back. I wanted something I could get excited about.”
Still, 20 minutes is quite a chunk of airtime in the broadcast marketplace.
“Regardless of the lack of news, all three morning news shows tried to find a way to spin the non-story to make the president look bad. ABC’s Good Morning America accounted for nearly half of all the coverage with 9 minutes and 18 seconds,” Mr. Ciandella reported. “CBS This Morning and NBC’s Today came in just about even with 5 minutes and 36 seconds and 5 minutes and 34 seconds, respectively.”
The analyst cited veterans pollster Frank Luntz, who offered his own take to CBS on Mr. Trump’s tax returns.
“In all the polling that we have done, this isn’t even a top 10 issue,” the pollster said. “It’s one of the reasons why Americans are so fed up with Washington and so fed up with politics as usual. And, frankly, the media has to be able to hold this president and Congress accountable. They have to have the credibility to call the White House’s bluff. But they can’t do it if they’re focused on issues that the average American, the ordinary American, doesn’t care about.”
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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