Since the beginning of 2016, ABC’s World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News have devoted just 32 minutes to issues coverage, according to Andrew Tyndall.
Differentiating issues coverage from daily campaign coverage where policy topics might be addressed, Tyndall defines issues coverage by a newscast this way: “It takes a public policy, outlines the societal problem that needs to be addressed, describes the candidates' platform positions and proposed solutions, and evaluates their efficacy.”
And here’s how that kind of in-depth coverage breaks down, year to date, by network:
ABC: 8 minutes, all of which covered terrorism.
NBC: 8 minutes for terrorism, LBGT issues, and foreign policy.
CBS: 16 minutes for foreign policy, terrorism, immigration, policing, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
And this remarkable finding from Tyndall:
No trade, no healthcare, no climate change, no drugs, no poverty, no guns, no infrastructure, no deficits. To the extent that these issues have been mentioned, it has been on the candidates' terms, not on the networks' initiative.
1 comment:
It's not just the networks, the whole of what is supposed to pass as news media have been negligent, even this site as well. There's been nothing in the way of attempted impartial analysis. There's been nothing in the way of challenging the constructed narratives the campaigns put forth. There's been nothing in the way of offering a fair hearing of all the party's positions. What we have been bombarded with has been nothing but cheap, tawdry polemics---campaign propaganda. And yes, Sam, you've been among the worst offenders this cycle. Cannot stress the degree of disappointment in you. But you needn't feel singled out, there's plenty of other guilty parties who've committed the same offense. Trust in them, as well as yourself, has been shattered. When the trade pacts start getting signed and the bombs start to fly I hope you ponder you culpability.
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