Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream and Kinetiq video databases for all original episodes of ABC's World News Tonight, CBS' Evening News and Weekend News, NBC's Nightly News, and PBS' NewsHour, including any weekend editions, for any of the terms “debt,” “deficit,” “growth,” “inequality,” “inflation,” “jobs,” “tax,” “revenue,” “supply side,” “trickle down,” “GDP,” “GNP,” “income,” “labor,” “union,” “trade,” “tariff,” “Social Security,” “Medicare,” “Medicaid,” “Affordable Care Act,” or “retirement” or any variations of any of the terms “economy,” “spend,” “wage,” “wealth,” “unemployment,” “product,” “employ,” “Obama care,” “health care,” “healthcare,” “Wall Street,” “stock,” “S&P,” “NASDAQ,” “Dow,” or “loan” from January 1, 2024, through the first quarter of the year ending March 31, 2024.
We included segments, which we defined as instances when the American economy was the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of the economy. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a segment discussed issues relating to the American economy with one another.
We did not include passing mentions, which we defined as instances when a single speaker in a segment on another topic mentioned the U.S. economy without another speaker engaging with the comment, or teasers, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host promoted a segment about the economy scheduled to air later in the broadcast.
We then reviewed the identified segments and determined whether they included mention of any of the following: the federal budget deficit or the national debt; economic, income, or wealth inequality; inflation (including monetary inflation), price increases, or price gouging; state, local, or federal minimum wages or government reports on payroll; jobs reports, the unemployment rate, and jobs growth; corporate profits; the economic impact of government regulation; state, local, or federal taxes on personal income, wealth, or corporate revenue; imports, exports, tariffs, or international trade agreements and negotiations; or labor unions, strikes, or worker organizing; the federal budget or any federal spending legislation, deals, or continuing resolutions to avoid government shutdowns; Social Security; the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, or Medicaid; student debt and college loans; and the stock market.
We also reviewed the identified segments for whether they promoted or argued in favor of “trickle-down” economics, which we defined as discussion of reductions of tax and regulatory burdens at the upper end of the income, wealth, or profit spectrum to induce broader economic growth, or pushing claims that these actions will negatively affect job numbers.
Percentages do not add up to 100% because individual segments could include multiple economic indicators and because of rounding.