Voters who have relied on the network evening newscasts for
information about the 2016 presidential candidates saw four times more
airtime devoted to controversies involving presumptive GOP nominee
Donald Trump than to the scandals surrounding his Democratic rival
Hillary Clinton.
Indeed, the only Clinton scandal to receive more
than a minimal amount of attention from the networks during the
primaries was the ongoing investigation of Clinton’s use of a private
e-mail server and her mishandling of classified information while
serving as Secretary of State. The networks paid little or no attention
to a host of other Clinton controversies that likely would have been big
news if they had been associated with her GOP opponent.
MRC
analysts reviewed all 1,099 stories on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening
newscasts which talked about the presidential campaign between January 1
through June 7, including weekends. This tally includes 950 full
reports and interview segments; 66 short items read by the anchor; plus
83 stories on other topics that included some discussion of one or more
of the candidates.
The overall amount of campaign airtime is
extraordinary: 2,137 minutes of coverage, or more than one-fourth
(26.1%) of all evening news airtime during this period, excluding
commercials and teases.
Nearly half of that airtime (1,068
minutes) was spent talking about Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP
nominee, compared to 583 minutes of coverage for Hillary Clinton.
Clinton’s rival for the Democratic nomination, Vermont socialist Bernie
Sanders, came in third, with 366 minutes of coverage, more than any of
Trump’s GOP rivals.
Compared to Clinton, a much higher percentage
of Trump’s airtime (40 percent, or 432 minutes) was spent discussing the
controversies surrounding the Republican’s candidacy. Only 18 percent
of Clinton’s coverage (105 minutes) was spent discussing similar
controversies, as network reporters paid scant attention to stories that
would have garnered far more airtime had Trump been involved.
For example, the lingering questions about Clinton’s handling of the 2012 Benghazi attack
drew only 77 seconds
of evening news airtime from January 1 through June 7. Clinton’s
participation in a racially-charged comedy skit with New York City Mayor
Bill de Blasio (about running on CP time — “cautious politician time”)
was skipped by ABC and NBC’s evening broadcasts, getting
just 51 seconds of airtime on the April 12 edition of the
CBS Evening News.
The
potential conflict-of-interest scandal surrounding the Clinton
Foundation and Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State was given
a paltry 44 seconds
of coverage — half of which came when her socialist rival Bernie
Sanders brought it up during the waning days of the Democratic
primaries.
“Do I have a problem when a sitting Secretary of State
and a foundation run by her husband collects many millions of dollars
from foreign governments?” Sanders asked in a soundbite re-played on the
June 6
Nightly News. “Do I have a problem with that? Yeah, I do.”
Neither ABC nor CBS mentioned Sanders complaint that night, nor did any follow up in the days that followed.
Clinton’s
e-mail server scandal was the most-covered candidate controversy of the
primary season, with more than 47 minutes of airtime. The only other
Clinton controversy to crack the Top 20 was discussion of Bill Clinton’s
past adultery and alleged mistreatment of women — a topic only covered
because it was brought up by Trump.
And, most of
the network coverage was framed not around the controversy of Clinton’s
actual conduct, but the notion that Trump was going too far by raising
the issue of the former President’s infidelity. On the May 19
Evening News,
for example, CBS’s Nancy Cordes labeled it “harsh” of Trump to bring up
the case of Juanita Broaddrick, who in 1999 accused Clinton of raping
her in 1978. That same night, ABC’s David Muir said Trump was “proving
nothing is off limits,” while NBC’s Andrea Mitchell accused Trump of
engaging in “aggressive personal attacks.”
The
other 18 controversies on the Top 20 list were all related to the GOP
candidate: violence at some of Trump’s rallies (31 minutes); his
racially-charged criticism of the judge in the Trump University fraud
case (27 minutes); his history of liberal policy positions and shift to
the left on some issues after his last GOP rival dropped out of the race
(24 minutes); and history of sexist rhetoric and charges of crude
behavior with women (22 minutes).
These are obviously valid topics
for news coverage, but contrast the amount of network airtime Trump’s
problems received with the same statistics for key controversies
surrounding Hillary Clinton: her big money speeches to Wall Street
banks, and her refusal to release transcripts of those speeches (7
minutes, 35 seconds); and her reliance on massive campaign contributions
from the wealthy (6 minutes, 50 seconds).
When cameras caught
Clinton angrily yelling at a Sanders supporter over the issue of
contributions from those in the fossil fuel industry (“I am so sick of
the Sanders campaign lying about me!”) the flap drew just 72 seconds of
coverage on the
NBC Nightly News, 40 seconds of coverage on ABC’s
World News Tonight, and a mere 16 seconds on the
CBS Evening News.
When
in May Clinton suggested on a radio show that she believed in space
aliens (“There are enough stories out there that I don’t think everybody
is just sitting, you know, in their kitchen making them up”), only
ABC’s
World News Tonight bothered to tell viewers, with a light-hearted one minute, 43 second story on a Sunday night broadcast.
“Clinton’s enthusiasm is winning over one part of the electorate,” ABC
correspondent David Wright wryly noted. “‘Finally,’ tweeted one sci-fi
fan, ‘she has my vote!’”
If Donald Trump had suggested
little green men had visited Earth, his comments likely would have been
highlighted as evidence that the Republican candidate is unsuitable for
the presidency.
The networks have left no stone unturned in their
vetting of Trump. But this is a race between two candidates, and they
have an equal obligation to report on the scandals, controversies and
gaffes surrounding Hillary Clinton.
