CNS Election Watch

October 14, 2016

CBS uses Clinton attack ad to challenge Mike Pence’s facts

By SEEMA VITHLANI, BARRETT GOLDBERG, ALEX GREEN, HALLIE MILLER and PABLO ROA When can networks air a candidate’s commercial in their news? CBS did so Oct. 5 when it showed an advertisement from Hillary Clinton’s campaign that fact-checked what Republican Mike Pence said during the vice presidential debate....

CBS / NBC / Trump

October 12, 2016

Pros Split On Coverage of Trump PTSD Controversial Comments

By SUMMER BEDARD and BECCA KING Trump’s campaign regularly accuses the media of taking his comments out of context (see: immigration, abortion, kicking a baby out of a rally). But was that the case on Oct. 3 when NBC and CBS reported his remarks to veterans...

NBC

October 7, 2016

Report says Donald Trump violated federal law in 1998, ABC and CBS stay quiet

News organizations have gotten plenty of criticism during the 2016 presidential race for not focusing on the issues that matter to many voters. Friday night, ABC and CBS may have added fuel to the blame-the-media fire. Early Sept. 30 Newsweek released a report stating that Donald Trump...

Uncategorized

October 6, 2016

Clinton Emails, Worth the Coverage?

On Sept. 13 Clinton’s pneumonia and her “deplorables” comment dominated all three evening news broadcasts. CBS, however, then made a different turn. CBS covered a congressional hearing regarding the former secretary of state’s private email server—the third hearing in five days. ABC, NBC, The New York Times,...

CBS / Clinton / Polls / Trump

October 5, 2016

Voices of the Voters, Not the Polls

On Sept. 27 CBS Evening News dedicated five whole minutes to the “Voices of Voters.” The ratio of Trump to Clinton voters was noticeably unbalanced. CBS correspondents went to debate-watch parties in three different cities. In Los Angeles, all attendees were Latino and none supported Donald Trump. CBS...

CBS / Clinton / Trump / Uncategorized

October 5, 2016

CBS Voter Panels: What’s Their Purpose?

The September 26 presidential debate arrived and finished with a bang. A record number of roughly 80 million tuned in. The next day the CBS Evening News incorporated and intriguing component: groups of voters. CBS devoted nearly half of its political coverage to the three groups of voters...

ABC / CBS / NBC

October 4, 2016

Minor Party Candidates, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, Left Out of ABC Broadcast

On Sept. 16, voters learned Gary Johnson and Jill Stein did not qualify for the Sept. 26 debate. CBS and NBC reported the news in fewer than 20 seconds. Scott Pelley for CBS: “None of the minor party candidates made the cut for the first debate....

CBS / Clinton / NBC / Trump

October 4, 2016

Networks Divided on How to Fact Check

The Sept. 26 presidential debate demanded fact checking. It was unclear what the next day’s broadcasts would do. NBC responded with fifty-five seconds of fact checking inside another story. CBS had a whole story devoted to it. ABC avoided fact checking altogether. NBC’s Peter Alexander pointed...

ABC / Blog Post / Graphics / NBC / Polls

October 3, 2016

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:...

Blog Post / NBC / Trump / Uncategorized

October 2, 2016

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...