Study Reveals 90% of Network Trump Coverage Was Negative in 2018
An analysis of the establishment media’s coverage of President Donald Trump in 2018 supported the president’s assertion that the media covers him unfairly.
Media Research Center’s Newsbusters reported that an analysis of “every moment of coverage of President Trump on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts” since Jan. 20, 2017, has shown that those networks had 90 percent negative coverage of the president.
According to MRC, the three networks account for approximately 23 million viewers each night, and the biggest story was the Trump presidency, which took up almost 87 hours of coverage.
That coverage made up 28 percent of all evening news airtime, but was down from 99 hours of coverage in 2017, MRC reported.
The total coverage in 2018 was 90 percent negative and 10 percent positive, leaving out neutral statements.
However, the extensive negative coverage does not appear to have had any substantial impact on the president’s average 41 percent approval rating, according to a RealClear Politics poll.
The single most covered topic for the second year in a row was still the Russia investigation, which took up 858 minutes of airtime in 2018.
Thomas Patterson, a Harvard media scholar, assessed the coverage of Trump’s first 100 days in office and found that NBC’s coverage of Trump was 93 percent negative and CBS’s 91 percent negative.
Patterson also found that CNN was highly negative of the president while Fox News offered a more balanced 52 percent negative and 48 percent positive coverage.
However, the unbalanced coverage appears to have only endeared establishment media to the hearts of Democratic voters.
A recent Gallup poll found that 76 percent of Democrats trust the media, which is up from 51 percent in 2016. That is starkly contrasted by the 21 percent of Republicans who say that they trust the media.
Despite the consistent negative coverage, MRC reported that the president’s approval rating increased by almost three percent in 2018.
Republicans resistance the establishment media could be due, in part, to Trump’s consistent reminders of what he considers to be unfair coverage.
On Monday, the president tweeted, “The Fake News gets crazier and more dishonest every single day.”
The Fake News gets crazier and more dishonest every single day. Amazing to watch as certain people covering me, and the tremendous success of this administration, have truly gone MAD! Their Fake reporting creates anger and disunity. Take two weeks off and come back rested. Chill!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2019
“Amazing to watch as certain people covering me, and the tremendous success of this administration, have truly gone MAD!” Trump continued. “Their Fake reporting creates anger and disunity. Take two weeks off and come back rested. Chill!”
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