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Coverage on ABC, CBS and NBC News of the presidential race between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris has been the most “lopsided in history,” a new study released one week before the election found.
Analysis from the Media Research Center (MRC) published Monday found that Harris has received 78% positive coverage on broadcast evening news since July, versus Trump, who has been the subject of 85% negative coverage on the same networks.
“The difference in coverage between the two candidates is far greater than in 2016, when both Trump and then-challenger Hillary Clinton received mostly negative coverage [91% negative for Trump, vs. 79% negative for Clinton,]” according to MRC analysts.
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 27: Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on October 27, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
The disparity between the Trump and Harris coverage is even greater than in 2020, “when Joe Biden was treated to 66% positive coverage, vs. 92% negative for Trump,” the study reads.
MRC reported that ABC, CBS and NBC have spent more than 200 minutes of airtime, most of it negative, harping on controversies surrounding Trump while glossing over or, in many cases, outright ignoring controversies related to Harris – such as plagiarism accusations and allegations surrounding her husband, Doug Emhoff.
“Instead, Harris’ coverage has been larded with enthusiastic quotes from pro-Harris voters, creating a positive ‘vibe’ for the Democrat even as network reporters criticize Trump themselves,” MRC writes.
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Analysts reviewed more than 600 segments about the presidential race that aired on ABC, CBS or NBC beginning on the day President Biden suspended his candidacy in late July, through October 25.
After weeks of glowing coverage for Harris as the Democratic nominee, the three networks seemingly changed their tone following the debate between Harris and Trump in September, the MRC analysts found.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a service at the Church of Christian Compassion, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
“The networks shifted attention away from Harris, spending significantly more airtime targeting Trump,” the report reads.
“From the date Harris entered the race on July 21 through September 10, she received 353 minutes of network evening news coverage, virtually identical to the 355 minutes given Trump during the same period. Since then, however, TV has focused nearly twice as much attention on Trump as Harris: 398 minutes for the former President, compared to just 230 minutes for the Vice President,” the study found.
“The additional airtime for Trump was hardly meant as a gift. Instead, it reflected the networks’ intensive focus on Trump controversies, providing opportunities for negative news coverage,” according to MRC.
Roughly 31% of the 753 minutes of evening news spent on Trump since July 21 spotlighted his personal controversies, the study found. “This compares to barely five percent of Harris’s airtime [28 minutes, out of a total 583 minutes of coverage] spent on similar topics.
The networks repeatedly cited January 6 and Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was rigged while labeling him as a “danger to democracy,” MRC reported.
Comparatively, “Harris faced no such onslaught. Over fourteen weeks, evening news viewers heard a scant 5 minutes, 22 seconds of GOP criticisms that she’s too liberal, barely one-sixth the airtime spent on the claim Trump is a ‘fascist.’ None of this coverage included any criticisms of Harris from either network reporters or nonpartisan sources,” MRC analysts found.
“Add it all up, and the media coverage of the past three months is more lopsided than that of any presidential election in the modern media age,” the report reads.
“So if Donald Trump regains the White House next week, the media’s campaign against him will have accomplished nothing, except the further erosion of their own reputations.”
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The MRC findings come shortly after a Gallup study revealed that trust remains both historically and consistently low in the media. Only 31% of those polled expressed a “great deal” or “fair amount” of faith in the media to report news properly.
“For the third consecutive year, more U.S. adults have no trust at all in the media (36%) than trust it a great deal or fair amount. Another 33% of Americans express ‘not very much’ confidence,” Gallup Senior Editor Megan Brenan wrote.
ABC, CBS and NBC News did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News’ Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
