Category: Blog Post

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:...

Did NBC News Miss the Trump Story?

On September 14 Donald Trump spoke at the Bethel United Methodist Church in Flint, Michigan. When he began criticizing Hillary Clinton, pastor Faith Green Timmons interrupted, asking him to focus on issues in Flint. ABC led its broadcast with the story. CBS did a story with its...

ABC’s David Muir Puts Spotlight on Syrian Refugees

On Sept. 20, ABC World News Tonight did something no other evening broadcast has done. It set aside nearly five minutes for an in-depth examination of a major issue in the campaign: immigration. For those who complain about the broadcasts focusing only on the charges and...

Networks Stumble After Clinton

Hillary Clinton almost collapsed on Sunday during the memorial service for the 15th anniversary of 9/11. Her campaign attributed this to pneumonia. All was captured on video. Trump was uncharacteristically restrained, saying he hopes Clinton “gets well.” Instead, the networks generated the discussion. All three made...

Are the Issues Getting Lost?

“Now let’s clear the smoke,” said CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley. What he really meant was, let’s take a break from the attacks bouncing between campaigns, and let’s talk issues. Pelley used this line to lead into a section of CBS’s newscast that stood out...

Can One Poll Tell the Story?

ABC used one Fox News poll on Sept. 15 to pronounce that Hillary Clinton lost her lead and the presidential race is now a “dead heat.” But is it? CBS showed the results of another close poll, but explained in depth why Clinton still has the...

To Cover, or not to Cover: The Johnson Campaign Question

On Sept. 8, Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” talk show and left many viewers scratching their heads. When asked what he planned to do about Syria’s Aleppo, Johnson blanked and asked “what is Aleppo?” ABC, CBS and NBC ran with...

Clinton Post Goes Viral, But TV Barely Notices

ABC and NBC both covered Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s effort to address criticism that she can’t show her human side…but NBC’s approach plowed new ground. Unlike ABC, NBC recognized the power of social media. Humans of New York originated as a photography project in 2010, capturing the...

Graphics and the Media’s Mindfulness

On Sept. 1, CBS ran the following graphics to go along with its coverage of the FBI’s released documents from the Hillary Clinton email investigation: They also incorporated Donald Trump’s reaction to the situation using the same graphic layout: The network then revealed the following poll, which...