CNS Election Watch

March 4, 2017

NBC Questions Voters but Tells Us Nothing

On February 17, NBC Nightly News was back in Kenosha, Wisconsin—for the second time since the inauguration—to find out what voters are thinking about President Trump’s first 30 days in office. Kenosha County was evenly split in the 2016 presidential election, with less than 300 votes...

ABC / CBS / NBC / Trump

March 2, 2017

ABC Compares Trump Deportations to Obama’s

ABC and CBS covered the deportations around the country after President Trump took office. They each focused on the same woman, but the stories they told were very different. In its Feb. 9 broadcast, CBS featured Guadalupe García de Rayos, a Mexican immigrant living in Phoenix before...

Uncategorized

March 2, 2017

ABC Uses Satire to Help Frame Perception of DeVos

Does satire have a place on the network nightly news? On Monday, Feb. 6, ABC’s story about Betsy DeVos’s confirmation featured a Saturday Night Live soundbite. It portrayed the secretary of education as clueless. “I do think there should be a school,” said comedian Kate McKinnon...

Uncategorized

March 1, 2017

Kasparov critical of Trump-Putin relationship on CBS

President Trump’s ties to Russia began to draw attention before he was inaugurated. Trump campaign aides were reportedly in contact with Russian officials prior to the election, and the President has conducted business in Russia in the past. Now there is fear those ties could be...

ABC / NBC

February 28, 2017

Only NBC, ABC include Democrats’ Response

On Feb. 13, NBC opened with two stories involving national security. The first questioned whether then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn broke federal law in late December by discussing possible sanctions against Russia from the Obama administration with a Russian ambassador. The second showed Donald Trump and...

ABC / Trump / WikiLeaks

February 27, 2017

ABC calls out Trump’s contradiction on leaks

On Feb. 15, CBS and NBC highlighted President Trump’s praise of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, despite his recent firing amid controversy. This issue was over his contact with the Russian ambassador before Inauguration Day. The networks pointed out Trump’s blame of the media for...

ABC / Blog Post / CBS / Clinton / Election Watch / NBC / The Anatomy of a Failure / Trump

December 12, 2016

Anatomy of a Failure

Bottom line in the 2016 election: journalists missed the story. From start to finish serious journalists failed to grasp and report Donald Trump’s pull. CNN’s Christiane Amanpour put it this way: We have to accept that we’ve had our lunch handed to us… … The winning...

CBS / Election Watch / millennials

November 26, 2016

CBS’s Millennial Voter Q&A Misrepresents Generation

On Nov. 2 CBS aired a four-minute segment on millennial voters. CBS’s Elaine Quijano interviewed a group, aged 18-34, from 12 states, but the resulting package may not have adequately represented the most diverse and progressive generation in the country. The piece opened with a poll...

CBS / Election Watch / millennials / NBC

November 26, 2016

The Road to the Senate

With less than a week to Election Day, only NBC looked at the Senate power struggle and its effects on the new president’s ability to govern — or not. The network covered the races that could determine which party would control the Senate. The report noted...

ABC / CBS / Election Watch / NBC / Trump

November 25, 2016

Trump Condemnation Of Church Fire Not Covered By All Networks

On Nov. 1 when a historically black church in Greenville, Mississippi, was set on fire, it made national headlines. The words “Vote Trump” had been spray painted onto the outside. The next day all three networks had limited coverage. There were key differences. ABC only showed...