Ubiquitous
2024-08-21 01:05:01 UTC
2024 presidential race four weeks ago, the liberal networks have delivered an
unprecedented boost of positive publicity to his successor in the race, Vice
President Kamala Harris. Not only has Harris received 66% more airtime than
former President Donald Trump, but the spin of Harriss coverage has been
more positive (84%) than any other major party nominee, even as Trumps
coverage has been nearly entirely hostile (89% negative).
As always, our calculation of spin omits so-called horse race assessments
(see methodology statement below), but a separate count shows those
statements have also favored Harris by a whopping margin (94% positive, vs.
just 43% positive for Trump). At the same time, the network coverage has
virtually eliminated any discussion of the strident left-wing positions
Harris took as Senator or during her 2020 presidential campaign. And while
Republican Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance and his Democratic
counterpart, Tim Walz, have received nearly equal amounts of airtime, the
networks have celebrated Walz (62% positive press) and punished Vance (92%
negative).
Details:
Š Nets Award Huge Airtime Advantage to Harris: This Media Research Center
study looked at all 2024 presidential campaign coverage on the ABC, CBS and
NBC evening newscasts from July 21, the day Biden exited the race, through
August 17, including weekends. During those four weeks, the Big Three talked
about the race in a total of 194 reports with a combined airtime of 437
minutes.
As far back as 2015, Donald Trump has nearly always bested his competitors
when it came to total airtime. During the 2020 general election, for example,
the then-President received three times more coverage than challenger Joe
Biden. Yet during the past four weeks, the networks have gifted the most
airtime to new Democratic candidate Kamala Harris 221 minutes of coverage
on the evening newscasts, or about 66 percent more than Trump (133 minutes).
The networks spent 31 minutes, 27 seconds talking about Republican Vice
Presidential candidate J.D. Vance over the full 28 day period we studied.
Following his selection by Harris on August 6, Democratic Vice Presidential
candidate Tim Walz received a nearly-identical 31 minutes, 59 seconds of
airtime, but during a much shorter time period just 12 newscasts.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was barely
discussed just four minutes, 44 seconds of coverage across the three
networks.
https://cdn.newsbusters.org/styles/blog_image_50_/s3/2024-
08/HarrisVSTrump_Study_V2.png?itok=yKmhp7BA
Š Nets Award Harris with Historic Good Press: Campaigns might appreciate
getting more airtime than their opponents, but it might be a poisoned gift if
most of that coverage is hostile. That was certainly not the case with
Harriss national debut, however.
Looking only at clearly evaluative comments from reporters, anchors and non-
partisan sources such as voters and experts, we tallied 57 positive comments
about Harris on the Big Three evening newscasts since July 21, vs. just 11
negative statements. That translates to an astonishing 84% positive spin
score, an unprecedented level of good press.
Many of the fawning comments came from voters raving about the new Democratic
candidate. We know that she is a powerhouse speaker, one happy Gen Zer
enthused on the July 23 NBC Nightly News. I havent felt this kind of
excitement since Obama, another proclaimed on the August 10 CBS Weekend
News.
In 2020, we calculated that the networks supplied Joe Biden with 66% positive
coverage during the general election, while the Democrats 2016 nominee,
Hillary Clinton, actually received mostly (79%) negative coverage during that
years campaign.
Using similar methodology, Stephen Farnsworth and Robert Lichter in 2008
(scroll to page 14) found 68% positive press for Democratic nominee Barack
Obama, the highest...recorded for any nominee over the past six election
cycles by the nonpartisan Center for Media and Public Affairs. Given the
networks idolatrous coverage of the past four weeks, it is conceivable
Harriss 2024 coverage could wind up even more positive than Obamas was
sixteen years ago.
While the networks showered Harris with good press, their coverage of former
President Trump was as hostile as ever. Over these four weeks, we tallied 86
negative evaluations about Trump vs. just 11 positive statements, for an 89%
bad press score. The only candidate who fared worse than Trump was his
running mate, J.D. Vance. We tallied 22 negative statements about the Ohio
Senator, vs. just two positive comments, for a harshly negative 92% bad press
score.
As for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, network viewers heard eight positive
statements vs. five negative ones, for a 62% positive press score.
Add it all up, and the networks have granted the combined Democratic ticket
of Harris-Walz 82% positive press, while Trump-Vance have faced 90% negative
coverage.
Š Networks Skip Harriss Extreme Liberal Record: Harris is almost certainly
the most left-wing nominee of a major party in U.S. history. In 2019, she was
named as the most liberal of all U.S. Senators, a grouping that included
socialist Bernie Sanders. Yet Harriss past support for many extreme left-
wing ideas, such as the Green New Deal, abolishing the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agency, and imposing Medicare-for-All in place of private
health insurance, were completely ignored during this wave of good press.
Network reporters only twice explained Harriss ideology to viewers. On July
21, CBSs Weijia Jiang noted that Harris has a liberal voting record that
could be balanced with a more moderate VP. Three days later, NBCs Liz
Kreutz identified Harris as a self-described progressive prosecutor. ABCs
correspondents and anchors never once thought to identify Harris as a
liberal; the only mention of Harriss ideology on that network came from
occasional soundbites from Trump and other Republicans, describing the Vice
President as a radical left lunatic (Trump on the July 28 World News
Tonight).
Š Downplay/Ignore Damaging Democratic Controversies: The networks spent
barely any time on controversies that might have marred Harriss
extraordinary media honeymoon. Out of 221 minutes of total Harris coverage,
the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts spent a grand total of 25 seconds on
the idea always presented as a Republican charge that the Vice President
hadnt been truthful about Joe Bidens true condition prior to July 21.
The complaint that Harris was being handed the nomination without receiving a
single vote from an ordinary Democratic voter was barely noted, receiving a
scant 1 minute, 59 seconds of airtime over four weeks. Harriss failure to
have any meaningful interactions with the press during this entire period
something that should have been a major issue for any news organization
received a paltry 57 seconds of coverage from these three broadcasts
combined.
In contrast, the networks spent 8 minutes, 20 seconds of coverage all of it
negative thumping Trumps appearance at the National Association of Black
Journalists when he questioned whether Harris used to promote herself as of
Indian-American heritage instead of black. And J.D. Vances comment about
childless cat ladies running the country was promoted with 11 minutes, 32
seconds of coverage, accounting for more than a third of all of Vances
coverage during these weeks.
In fact, Vances cat ladies musings drew nearly twice as much network
interest than all of Tim Walzs dubious claims about his military service
(just 6 minutes, 1 second). Walzs mishandling of the 2020 riots following
George Floyds death drew even less network interest: just 80 seconds of
airtime.
Š Networks Are Portraying Harris as Having Massive Momentum: Our good
press/bad press score doesnt include statements about polls or
prognostications, but the networks presidential coverage is chock full of
such horse race assessments. Over the past four weeks, theres been a tidal
wave of positive statements about Harris, generating the impression of
massive momentum in favor of the Democrats. Yet a closer look at the data
shows the race hasnt shifted nearly as much as the enthusiastic news
coverage would suggest.
From July 21 to August 17, evening news viewers heard 192 positive statements
about Harriss huge crowds, fundraising success, and momentum in the polls,
vs. only 12 negative such assessments, for a 94% positive horse race score.
There were far fewer such statements about former President Trumps campaign
standings: 21 positive vs. 28 negative, for a 43% positive/57% negative
score.
Yet a check of the average of polls published by RealClearPolitics shows
Trumps overall support has shifted by only a single percentage point, from
47.9% support on July 21 to 46.8% support as of August 17. Looking at the
sites state-by-state assessment, Trump continues to lead in states totaling
219 Electoral College votes, more than Harris. The only shift since July 21:
moving Tim Walzs Minnesota from toss-up to lean Democrat. Every other
battleground state is still considered a toss-up that either side could win,
exactly as they stood four weeks ago.
The medias wildly positive horse race coverage of the Harris campaign
could create the impression that the Vice President is completely dominating
the presidential race. But a calm look at the facts shows that, at least up
to this point, the overall state of the race has changed fairly little since
the Democrats swapped one candidate for another.
++++
As the Democratic National Convention begins, the Big Three evening newscasts
have delivered Kamala Harris the most positive start to a general election
campaign of any presidential nominee in recent memory. Not only is she
getting the most coverage, shes also getting by far the most positive press.
The question is whether the public will be swayed by this extraordinarily
lopsided coverage, or will they see this as just more evidence of a partisan
news media taking sides.
++++
METHODOLOGY: To determine the spin of news coverage, our analysts tallied all
explicitly evaluative statements about each candidate from either reporters,
anchors or non-partisan sources such as experts or voters. Evaluations from
partisan sources, as well as neutral statements, were not included.
As we did in 2016 and 2020, we separated personal evaluations of each
candidate from statements about their prospects in the campaign horse race
(i.e., standings in the polls, chances to win, etc.). While such comments can
have an effect on voters (creating a bandwagon effect for those seen as
winning, or demoralizing the supports of those portrayed as losing), they are
not good press or bad press as understood by media scholars as far back
as Michael Robinsons groundbreaking research on the 1980 presidential
campaign.
--
Let's go Brandon!
unprecedented boost of positive publicity to his successor in the race, Vice
President Kamala Harris. Not only has Harris received 66% more airtime than
former President Donald Trump, but the spin of Harriss coverage has been
more positive (84%) than any other major party nominee, even as Trumps
coverage has been nearly entirely hostile (89% negative).
As always, our calculation of spin omits so-called horse race assessments
(see methodology statement below), but a separate count shows those
statements have also favored Harris by a whopping margin (94% positive, vs.
just 43% positive for Trump). At the same time, the network coverage has
virtually eliminated any discussion of the strident left-wing positions
Harris took as Senator or during her 2020 presidential campaign. And while
Republican Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance and his Democratic
counterpart, Tim Walz, have received nearly equal amounts of airtime, the
networks have celebrated Walz (62% positive press) and punished Vance (92%
negative).
Details:
Š Nets Award Huge Airtime Advantage to Harris: This Media Research Center
study looked at all 2024 presidential campaign coverage on the ABC, CBS and
NBC evening newscasts from July 21, the day Biden exited the race, through
August 17, including weekends. During those four weeks, the Big Three talked
about the race in a total of 194 reports with a combined airtime of 437
minutes.
As far back as 2015, Donald Trump has nearly always bested his competitors
when it came to total airtime. During the 2020 general election, for example,
the then-President received three times more coverage than challenger Joe
Biden. Yet during the past four weeks, the networks have gifted the most
airtime to new Democratic candidate Kamala Harris 221 minutes of coverage
on the evening newscasts, or about 66 percent more than Trump (133 minutes).
The networks spent 31 minutes, 27 seconds talking about Republican Vice
Presidential candidate J.D. Vance over the full 28 day period we studied.
Following his selection by Harris on August 6, Democratic Vice Presidential
candidate Tim Walz received a nearly-identical 31 minutes, 59 seconds of
airtime, but during a much shorter time period just 12 newscasts.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was barely
discussed just four minutes, 44 seconds of coverage across the three
networks.
https://cdn.newsbusters.org/styles/blog_image_50_/s3/2024-
08/HarrisVSTrump_Study_V2.png?itok=yKmhp7BA
Š Nets Award Harris with Historic Good Press: Campaigns might appreciate
getting more airtime than their opponents, but it might be a poisoned gift if
most of that coverage is hostile. That was certainly not the case with
Harriss national debut, however.
Looking only at clearly evaluative comments from reporters, anchors and non-
partisan sources such as voters and experts, we tallied 57 positive comments
about Harris on the Big Three evening newscasts since July 21, vs. just 11
negative statements. That translates to an astonishing 84% positive spin
score, an unprecedented level of good press.
Many of the fawning comments came from voters raving about the new Democratic
candidate. We know that she is a powerhouse speaker, one happy Gen Zer
enthused on the July 23 NBC Nightly News. I havent felt this kind of
excitement since Obama, another proclaimed on the August 10 CBS Weekend
News.
In 2020, we calculated that the networks supplied Joe Biden with 66% positive
coverage during the general election, while the Democrats 2016 nominee,
Hillary Clinton, actually received mostly (79%) negative coverage during that
years campaign.
Using similar methodology, Stephen Farnsworth and Robert Lichter in 2008
(scroll to page 14) found 68% positive press for Democratic nominee Barack
Obama, the highest...recorded for any nominee over the past six election
cycles by the nonpartisan Center for Media and Public Affairs. Given the
networks idolatrous coverage of the past four weeks, it is conceivable
Harriss 2024 coverage could wind up even more positive than Obamas was
sixteen years ago.
While the networks showered Harris with good press, their coverage of former
President Trump was as hostile as ever. Over these four weeks, we tallied 86
negative evaluations about Trump vs. just 11 positive statements, for an 89%
bad press score. The only candidate who fared worse than Trump was his
running mate, J.D. Vance. We tallied 22 negative statements about the Ohio
Senator, vs. just two positive comments, for a harshly negative 92% bad press
score.
As for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, network viewers heard eight positive
statements vs. five negative ones, for a 62% positive press score.
Add it all up, and the networks have granted the combined Democratic ticket
of Harris-Walz 82% positive press, while Trump-Vance have faced 90% negative
coverage.
Š Networks Skip Harriss Extreme Liberal Record: Harris is almost certainly
the most left-wing nominee of a major party in U.S. history. In 2019, she was
named as the most liberal of all U.S. Senators, a grouping that included
socialist Bernie Sanders. Yet Harriss past support for many extreme left-
wing ideas, such as the Green New Deal, abolishing the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agency, and imposing Medicare-for-All in place of private
health insurance, were completely ignored during this wave of good press.
Network reporters only twice explained Harriss ideology to viewers. On July
21, CBSs Weijia Jiang noted that Harris has a liberal voting record that
could be balanced with a more moderate VP. Three days later, NBCs Liz
Kreutz identified Harris as a self-described progressive prosecutor. ABCs
correspondents and anchors never once thought to identify Harris as a
liberal; the only mention of Harriss ideology on that network came from
occasional soundbites from Trump and other Republicans, describing the Vice
President as a radical left lunatic (Trump on the July 28 World News
Tonight).
Š Downplay/Ignore Damaging Democratic Controversies: The networks spent
barely any time on controversies that might have marred Harriss
extraordinary media honeymoon. Out of 221 minutes of total Harris coverage,
the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts spent a grand total of 25 seconds on
the idea always presented as a Republican charge that the Vice President
hadnt been truthful about Joe Bidens true condition prior to July 21.
The complaint that Harris was being handed the nomination without receiving a
single vote from an ordinary Democratic voter was barely noted, receiving a
scant 1 minute, 59 seconds of airtime over four weeks. Harriss failure to
have any meaningful interactions with the press during this entire period
something that should have been a major issue for any news organization
received a paltry 57 seconds of coverage from these three broadcasts
combined.
In contrast, the networks spent 8 minutes, 20 seconds of coverage all of it
negative thumping Trumps appearance at the National Association of Black
Journalists when he questioned whether Harris used to promote herself as of
Indian-American heritage instead of black. And J.D. Vances comment about
childless cat ladies running the country was promoted with 11 minutes, 32
seconds of coverage, accounting for more than a third of all of Vances
coverage during these weeks.
In fact, Vances cat ladies musings drew nearly twice as much network
interest than all of Tim Walzs dubious claims about his military service
(just 6 minutes, 1 second). Walzs mishandling of the 2020 riots following
George Floyds death drew even less network interest: just 80 seconds of
airtime.
Š Networks Are Portraying Harris as Having Massive Momentum: Our good
press/bad press score doesnt include statements about polls or
prognostications, but the networks presidential coverage is chock full of
such horse race assessments. Over the past four weeks, theres been a tidal
wave of positive statements about Harris, generating the impression of
massive momentum in favor of the Democrats. Yet a closer look at the data
shows the race hasnt shifted nearly as much as the enthusiastic news
coverage would suggest.
From July 21 to August 17, evening news viewers heard 192 positive statements
about Harriss huge crowds, fundraising success, and momentum in the polls,
vs. only 12 negative such assessments, for a 94% positive horse race score.
There were far fewer such statements about former President Trumps campaign
standings: 21 positive vs. 28 negative, for a 43% positive/57% negative
score.
Yet a check of the average of polls published by RealClearPolitics shows
Trumps overall support has shifted by only a single percentage point, from
47.9% support on July 21 to 46.8% support as of August 17. Looking at the
sites state-by-state assessment, Trump continues to lead in states totaling
219 Electoral College votes, more than Harris. The only shift since July 21:
moving Tim Walzs Minnesota from toss-up to lean Democrat. Every other
battleground state is still considered a toss-up that either side could win,
exactly as they stood four weeks ago.
The medias wildly positive horse race coverage of the Harris campaign
could create the impression that the Vice President is completely dominating
the presidential race. But a calm look at the facts shows that, at least up
to this point, the overall state of the race has changed fairly little since
the Democrats swapped one candidate for another.
++++
As the Democratic National Convention begins, the Big Three evening newscasts
have delivered Kamala Harris the most positive start to a general election
campaign of any presidential nominee in recent memory. Not only is she
getting the most coverage, shes also getting by far the most positive press.
The question is whether the public will be swayed by this extraordinarily
lopsided coverage, or will they see this as just more evidence of a partisan
news media taking sides.
++++
METHODOLOGY: To determine the spin of news coverage, our analysts tallied all
explicitly evaluative statements about each candidate from either reporters,
anchors or non-partisan sources such as experts or voters. Evaluations from
partisan sources, as well as neutral statements, were not included.
As we did in 2016 and 2020, we separated personal evaluations of each
candidate from statements about their prospects in the campaign horse race
(i.e., standings in the polls, chances to win, etc.). While such comments can
have an effect on voters (creating a bandwagon effect for those seen as
winning, or demoralizing the supports of those portrayed as losing), they are
not good press or bad press as understood by media scholars as far back
as Michael Robinsons groundbreaking research on the 1980 presidential
campaign.
--
Let's go Brandon!