The Big Three Network News 2017 Report Card

The Big Three Network News 2017 Report Card
Unlike the 'Big Three," the first year of the Trump administration has seen cable news networks blatantly fabricating news stories. We had news networks lying in an attempt to  create an international incident as CNN did with their Trump feeding Koi fish in Japan.

Over the past year, we have seen many journalists like Brian Stelter dropping any pretense of professionalism to become strident opponents of the President and/or Fox News.

The cable news networks bias has been clearly established. But The Media Research Center analyzed every moment of coverage of President Trump last year on the 'Big Three' New Networks, ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts, usually seen by more than 25 million people each night.

 
The Major Findings Were:

President Trump had no "honeymoon' period typically found during the first few months of a new presidency.
For 2017 90% of every Trump story was negative, vs. just 10% positive (These percentages do not include neutral statements).
More than two-fifths of evening news coverage of the President (43%) focused on controversies, not policies.
The Russia investigation alone accounting for one-fifth of all Trump coverage (1,234 minutes).

Despite their massive coverage of Russia, the networks had almost no questions about how the investigation began, or whether special counsel Robert Mueller’s current investigation is biased.

 
The Coverage of President Trump.
From Inauguration Day (January 20) through the end of 2017 (December 31), the three evening newscasts aired 3,430 stories that talked about either President Trump or his administration, totaling 99 hours, 3 minutes of airtime.

One out of every three minutes of broadcast evening news coverage (34%) was devoted to a Trump story in 2017. In contrast in 2015 and 2016, only 10% of the big three coverage focused on President Obama and/or his administration.
90% of Trump stories were negative — an unparalleled level of media hostility for a President in his first year in office.

Only Three months in 2017 did the Trump negativity failed to reach 90%

January 85% Negative stories. Then again there was only 11-days worth of coverage, and the positive stories had more to do with the Inauguration parties, and festivities.
April 82% negative stories. The 18% positive coverage Trump received was caused by many on both sides of the aisle supportive reaction to the cruise missile strikes against Syria.
December 85% negative stories. The 15% positive stories were due to Congress passing President Trump's tax reform bill.

Astonishingly, a President Trump so-called "good month" amounted to 8.5 out of every 10 stories being negative.

 
Proving Media Bias
Even when the media had a legitimate reason for reporting negative stories about President Trump the numbers remained remarkably steady.

When President Trump came under intense criticism, as an example, in August for his reaction to the violence in Charlottesville. The media’s overall negative reporting essentially remained unchanged.

In August after Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old woman who was protesting the white supremest march in Charlottesville, Va. was run down by a car.

President Trump received nearly universal condemnation for his comments about the events that led up to that tragedy. Despite the legitimate reason for the Big three news networks to go negative on the President. That months, August (91% negative) had no more unfavorable reporting, than any of the other months in 2017.

How can such an event where News Networks had a legitimate reason not affect the overall numbers? We know for a fact that not every month had a tragedy like Charlottesville. So the only logical conclusion is the networks created their own negative reports, or simply ignore positive news altogether.

 
Ignore Positives and Policy in favor of Controversies.
Despite any lack of proof. Despite even one shred of evidence that ties Trump to Russian collusion, the networks still devoted 43% of the total Trump coverage to controversies, hearsay and rumors that associated the President and his aides to Russia.

Amazingly, the networks almost equaled their COMBINED coverage of the top five "real policy" reporting.

The networks spent 1,240 minutes on the Trump / Russia "Rumor Mill." Compare that to the coverage the networks devoted to the top five "REAL" policy issues:

475 minutes reporting on, the effort to "repeal and replace" ObamaCare.
364 minutes reporting on the nuclear showdown with North Korea.
258 minutes reporting on Trump's immigration policy.
251 minutes reporting on the temporary travel ban.
222 minutes reporting on Trump's tax reform.

You don't have to look further than the coverage the big three evening newscast to the Peter Strzok story.  After it was learned that Robert Mueller fired Peter Strzok after discovering his anti-Trump text messages between him and his concubine.

The big three devoted a combined 11-minutes to a story that if happened during any other Presidency would have been a huge breaking news story. This story would have been reported on for days, perhaps even weeks. Instead the big three devoted an average of just 3-1/2 minutes.

 
The Media Trustworthiness
 

The media is clearly bias, and their reporting has become lazy. But then again I am a Republican so my conclusion is typical for most Republicans.

In September, Gallup discovered that record numbers of Democrats are reporting “trust and confidence in the mass media to report the news ‘fully, accurately and fairly,’” with 72 percent of Democrats saying they trusted the press in 2017, compared to just 51 percent who said that a year ago.

In another poll conducted by Politico/Morning Consult found that 76 percent of Republican voters think the news media invent stories about Trump and his administration.” That number swells to 85 percent when just Trump supporters are asked the question.

 
Can They Recover?
We have said many times if CNN can't be trusted when reporting on Trump feeding Koi fish in Japan. How can we trust them on a story that is actually important?

That question extends to the big three networks as well. No matter what happens in 2020, by 2024 America will have a new President.  No matter which party that person belongs to, how can the network news ever be trusted again?

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