ABC, NBC and CBS slap Trump with 92% negative coverage

Evening newscasts on ABC, NBC and CBS have slapped President Donald Trump with 92% negative coverage as the 100th day of his second term approaches, according to the Media Research Center (MRC).

The MRC analyzed ABC’s "World News Tonight," "NBC Nightly News" and "CBS Evening News" from January 20 through April 9 and found 899 stories that discussed President Trump or the Trump administration. The media watchdog group found that 92.2% of the coverage was negative compared to only 7.8% positive.

"Just 100 days into President Donald Trump’s second term, the broadcast evening news landscape is even more lopsided than it was eight years ago, when Trump was besieged with relentlessly hostile coverage," researcher Rich Noyes wrote.

"Eight years ago, using the identical methodology, we found Trump was blasted with 89% negative coverage at the hands of these networks during the first weeks of his first term," Noyes added.

The study revealed a stark contrast to coverage of former President Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office, which was 59% positive, according to the MRC.

"Yet despite the overwhelming negativity of their coverage, the networks found Trump irresistible as a news subject, at least compared with Biden. From January 20 through April 9, 2017, the networks saturated their newscasts with 1,900 minutes of Trump news; during the same time period this year, we tallied a massive 1,716 minutes of coverage. But in 2021, evening news viewers saw only 726 minutes of Biden coverage during these same weeks, less than half of the airtime devoted to either of the new Trump administrations," Noyes wrote.

The MRC explained that it determined the spin of coverage by tallying "all explicitly evaluative statements" about President Trump from either reporters, anchors or non-partisan sources such as experts or voters. Partisan sources, such as elected officials, were not included.

While Trump’s personal controversies dominated much of the coverage during his first term, the MRC found that coverage of the first 100 days of his second term has been largely spent on policy issues. Tariffs were covered for 361 minutes to lead the way, followed by DOGE receiving 301 minutes of coverage and immigration received 233 minutes of airtime on ABC, NBC and CBS’ evening newscasts, the study found.


"The networks’ spin on Trump’s tariffs faced 93% negative coverage, while the DOGE cutbacks to government were greeted by 97% negative spin," Noyes wrote when detailing the findings.

"Even on immigration, the issue where the public gives the President his highest ratings, the networks’ spin was 93% negative," he continued. "Out of nearly four hours of evening news airtime devoted to immigration, these newscasts spent just 3.5 minutes letting viewers know just how much Trump has reduced border crossings."

Trump’s top associates haven’t exactly received glowing coverage, either.

The study found that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced 89% negative coverage, DOGE’s Elon Musk was hit with 96% negative coverage, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth received a unanimous 100% bad press from ABC, NBC and CBS evening newscasts.

ABC, NBC and CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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