Evening news has aired a plethora of negative stories against President Donald Trump while virtually ignoring presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, a study found.
NewsBusters, a project of watchdog Media Research Center, analyzed ABC, CBS, and NBC evening newscasts from June 1 through July 31. Analysts found that the shows spent 512 minutes of airtime on Trump, nine times more than the 58 minutes they allotted to Biden.
But that extra airtime was almost entirely negative toward Trump.
Analysts at the center found 634 of 668 evaluative statements about the president were negative, compared to 4 of 12 for Biden.
“It shows a news media that is tired of being an umpire, they want to be a player,” Rich Noyes, research director at the center, told The Epoch Times.
“Theyd rather be the opposition to Donald Trump than let Joe Biden do the job.”
ABC News, NBC News, and CBS News didnt respond to requests for comment on the study.
Courtney Parella, deputy national press secretary for the Trump campaign, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement: “We didnt need a study to prove what we already know. The mainstream media is openly biased against President Trump, and they are fooling themselves if they think the American people cant see through it.”
In a typical campaign season, broadcasts would devote time to both candidates. The uneven treatment stems in part from Biden not holding campaign events for months during the COVID-19 pandemic, Noyes said, but the former vice president is still speaking on a daily basis, has plans out for what he would implement if elected, and faces scandals including a sexual assault allegation.
Forty percent, or 23.5 minutes, of the Biden-focused coverage aired Bidens criticisms of Trump, while just 0.25 percent, or 88 seconds, of Trump-focused coverage consisted of relaying Trumps criticisms of the presumptive nominee.
“Its as if theyre not trusting the public to make up their minds properly if they were given both sides,” Noyes said. “Theyre squandering any credibility they might have as journalists and showing that theyre partisan actors.”
The study included explicitly evaluative statements about Trump or Biden from reporters, anchors, or nonpartisan sources such as experts or voters. It didnt include evaluations or comments from partisan sources, or neutral statements.
Trump has regularly described many reporters as biased against him.
“My biggest opponent isnt Biden, its not the Democrats, its the corrupt media. We have a corrupt media in this country the likes of which nobodys ever seen before,” Trump said in a phone interview with “Fox & Friends” on Aug. 17.
Asked why he was campaigning during the Democratic National Convention, Trump said he has “no choice” becaRead More From Source
