BROADCAST BIAS: Networks’ take on Trump’s 100 days was 100% shocking, 0% surprising
Since the first term of Franklin Roosevelt, political pundits have evaluated presidents after their first 100 days in office. It seems like it’s too early for grand pronouncements, but there is one easy measurement we know: the broadcast networks have been wildly unfair to President Donald Trump in his first 100 days – again.
“CBS Evening News” and “CBS Evening News Plus” marked the occasion on April 30 with relentless gloom. White House reporter Ed O’Keefe lined up people to spin dark clouds about the future: “But as he marks the first stretch of his second term, people we spoke to here outside Motor City fear the economy could get worse.”
This matched the trend. A Media Research Center study of ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts from January 20 to April 9 found 92.2% of Trump evaluations were negative. A similar study of President Joe Biden’s first weeks in office found these same networks gave Biden 59% positive coverage.
’60 MINUTES’ KAMALA HARRIS INTERVIEW AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP’S CBS LAWSUIT RECEIVES EMMY NOMINATION
For example, coverage of Biden’s massive COVID-19 spending package was 86% positive. Instead of pushing back on the White House message of the day, evening news coverage consisted of a parade of citizens happy to be receiving $1,400 checks and other benefits. They barely mentioned adding to the deficit.
Keep in mind that the amount of Trump coverage – 899 stories making up 1,716 minutes –translates into more voluminous negative coverage. Biden drew only 726 evening-news minutes in 2021. Networks devoted nearly 1,000 more minutes to bashing Trump or over 16 hours of coverage. Trump has granted much broader access to the press – and it looks like he has been punished for it.
Clearly, Trump enjoys battling with hostile journalists, as you could see as he granted an interview to ABC’s Terry Moran, who was spinning the doom about a trade war with China: “Moody’s and other analysts say [it] is gonna cost American families thousands of more dollars per year. And there is a lot of concern out there. People are worried, even some people who voted for you, saying, ‘I didn’t sign up for this.’”
The ending was feisty, as Moran suggested Trump has already ruined America’s standing in the world, and Trump shot back “We had a president that was grossly incompetent. You knew it, I knew it, and everybody knew it. But you guys didn’t want to write it because you’re fake news. And, by the way, ABC is one of the worst. I have to be honest with you.”
In between. Moran engaged in a long back-and-forth with the president about the media’s favorite illegal alien, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who they falsely call a “Maryland Man.” It’s a mystery how they advocate for a man who has been identified as a member of the vicious gang MS-13 and accused by his wife of domestic violence.
In the White House Briefing Room, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller rallied the Trump troops by dressing down the press for their Kilmar obsession: “It is a sad reflection on the state of our media and many of the outlets represented in this room that you obsessively try to shill for this MS-13 terrorist” while they ignore the Americans who’ve been murdered by illegal immigrants.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION
He mentioned 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, lured out of her home to be raped and murdered by two men: “Most of your papers never covered her story when it happened. … President Trump forced you to cover it. … He had to shame you into covering it.”
Jocelyn’s name only surfaces when Republicans say it. CBS hasn’t reported this murder, but it was brought up by Alabama Sen. Katie Britt and by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Trump’s immigration stance is pitched as “controversial,” but somehow women being murdered by illegal aliens is not.
Because adjectives betray bias, I looked at how the word “controversial” has been used by the “PBS News Hour” since November. In 54 uses of the C-word on PBS in this study period, 45 of them applied to Team Trump or the Republicans. For Democrats, Biden drew one “controversial” on January 3 for his decision to block Nippon Steel’s attempt to buy U.S. Steel – a position he shared with Trump! That’s 45 to 1.
Clearly, Trump thrives on making controversy, so it’s not shocking they would use the word. What should be shocking is that they almost never think anything the Democrats do is “controversial.” A look back at a similar period in 2020 and 2021 found Trump was still the “controversial” one. Trump’s pardons were “controversial.” Biden’s were not.
It’s this kind of tilt that should underline why we don’t need to fund PBS and NPR, as they sound like taxpayer-funded versions of MSNBC. It’s outdated and repetitive. Let’s hope this defunding drive finally succeeds.
