Category: ABC

Saturday Night Live: Fair Game for Network News

NBC’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) writers are having a field day with the 2016 presidential election. Now the show’s satire is creeping into network news coverage. ABC’s Oct. 24 evening news led with Trump’s declaration he’s winning despite the polls. ABC first highlighted Trump’s difficulties staying...

CBS Goes a Step Further with Coverage of Tight Senate Race

This year, Democrats are close to retaking the Senate. One network’s coverage of the Senate race has gone a step further than the other two. On Oct. 26, CBS aired a nearly two-minute story on the Indiana Senate race. The piece followed Democrat and former senator Evan...

To Cover or Not to Cover Melania Trump

More than one week after the release of the 2005 Access Hollywood tape, Melania Trump broke her silence. For ABC and NBC her Oct. 17 interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper was major news. CBS ignored it totally. Which network was right? ABC’s David Muir began with...

Fraudulent Fraud Claims

Trump’s claims of voter fraud have populated network coverage this week. Top Republicans have voiced concern that Trump won’t accept defeat if he loses the election. All three networks showed Trump repeating his claim at multiple speeches, but the similarities end here.   CBS and NBC...

Trump’s Demeaning Words: Not Made for Evening News

A video of the 2005 conversation between Donald Trump and Access Hollywood host Billy Bush dominated coverage Oct. 7. It is unusual for networks to present profanity-laced language from a major party’s presidential nominee. But that is what CBS, NBC, and ABC had to do — and they all did...

ABC Mixes Polls and Makes Clinton Look Better

In the wake of the New York bombing, ABC and NBC both reported polling data Sept. 19 on how voters thought presidential candidates would handle terrorism. Both networks had the same data but showed different results. If you watched ABC, Hillary Clinton seemed like the favored candidate:...