Overall, broadcast evening news discussions of the economy were dominated by updates on the performance of America's major stock markets, which accounted for nearly 40% of all qualifying news coverage, while discussions of inflation were the next most frequent subject, being mentioned in 22% of segments.

All four major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS) covered positive economic news sparingly during the first quarter of the year — job creation was covered in 28 segments, or just 13%; continued wage growth was covered in 12 segments, or 6%; and the nation’s economic growth was covered in just 8, or 4%, of all segments.

Corporate profits, which reports have shown were growing faster than the rate of inflation in recent years, were mentioned in just 4 of all 210 qualifying segments, or 2%, and were never mentioned in tandem with inflation.

Broadcast news coverage of government spending and, in particular, repeated Republican threats to shut down the federal government were sparsely covered — a regular viewer of any of the three major corporate broadcast outlets (ABC, CBS, and NBC) would be forgiven for not realizing that the federal government was on the verge of partial shutdown twice during the first quarter of the year alone. Coverage of government spending — inclusive of budget proposals, continuing resolutions, and major legislation affecting federal spending — only drew coverage in 15 segments across those three networks in the first quarter of 2024.

None of the corporate broadcast networks discussed the national debt and federal budget deficit during their coverage. The annual federal budget deficit has decreased under President Joe Biden in each of the past two full fiscal years, after spiking under former President Donald Trump in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

PBS’ NewsHour is the gold standard for broadcast evening news on the economy. NewsHour proved to be better at covering economic news in the first quarter of the year than its corporate broadcast competitors ABC’s World News Tonight, CBS’ Evening News (and Weekend News), and NBC’s Nightly News. During the first three months of the year, Media Matters found that PBS featured 122 qualifying news segments with significant reporting on the economy, more than ABC (31), CBS (27), and NBC (30) combined.

ABC’s World News Tonight aired 31 qualifying economic segments, or 15% of all 210 broadcast evening news economic segments for the first quarter of 2024. ABC mentioned stocks in more segments than any other economic indicator, in 32% of its segments. It mentioned government spending in a higher proportion than any of the other networks, in 23% of its segments. ABC didn’t mention corporate profits, economic inequality, government regulations, or the national debt and annual budget deficits at all.

CBS’ Evening News and Weekend News aired the fewest qualifying economic segments of all network evening news programs — 27, or 13% of all 210 such segments for the first quarter of 2024. CBS mentioned inflation far more than any other economic indicator, in 44% of its qualifying segments. This was followed by jobs market coverage at 26% of segments, and stocks at 22% of segments. CBS did not mention economic inequality, taxes, or the national debt and annual budget deficits at all.

NBC’s Nightly News aired 30 qualifying economic news segments, or 14% of all 210 segments in the first quarter of 2024. NBC mentioned inflation more than any other economic indicator, with the topic appearing in 10 (or 33%) of its economic news segments. NBC covered the jobs market or monthly job creation in 6 segments (20%) and mentioned government spending in 5 segments (17%). Of all four major broadcast networks, NBC was the least reliant on stock market updates in its economic news coverage (4 segments, or 13%). NBC did not mention the federal budget deficit or national debt in any of its qualifying coverage.

PBS’ NewsHour aired 122 qualifying economic news segments, accounting for 58% of all 210 economic news segments aired by the major broadcast networks during the first quarter of 2024. Half of PBS' economic coverage (61 segments, or 50%) included a substantial focus on stock markets, due to NewsHour setting aside a routine block in every episode updating viewers on the daily performances of the major American investment indices. Even without this stock market coverage, PBS’ 61 other qualifying economic news segments are equal to the next two networks (ABC and NBC) combined.

Among the four major broadcast networks’ evening news programs, PBS aired by far the most segments on inflation (19, or 16% of its segments), and the most segments on government spending proposals (18, or 15%), including important information about the looming threats of government shutdowns in the first quarter of the year. PBS also aired the most segments of any broadcast outlet focused on the job market (9, or 7% of its segments). Finally, PBS aired more segments about unions (7, or 6% of its segments), health care (6, or 5%), and tax policy (6, of 5%) than all three of its corporate broadcast competitors combined.

Media Matters reviewed segments for whether they promoted or argued in favor of so-called “trickle-down” economic theory, a controversial and increasingly-discredited economic model that advocates for reduced tax and regulatory burdens at the upper end of the income, wealth, or profit spectrum to induce economic growth. Decades of research has demonstrated that policies enacted in pursuit of the “trickle-down” model have overwhelmingly benefited the rich.

NBC's Nightly News featured the only two overt examples identified by Media Matters of broadcast news promoting the trickle-down economic model during the first quarter of the year. In the first instance, from March 5, NBC featured attacks from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce against the Biden administration's plan to cap credit card late fees, which it claimed would “result in fewer card offerings and limit access to affordable credit for many consumers.” In the next example, from March 31, NBC reported on California's upcoming April 1 increase of the statewide minimum wage for fast food workers by presupposing that the increase would result in disruptive price increases and job losses negatively affecting consumers and workers.

• The stock market was mentioned in 81 of 210 qualifying economic news segments, or 39%.
• Inflation was mentioned in 47 of 210 segments, or 22%.
• Government spending was mentioned in 33 of 210 segments, or 16%.
• The job market, monthly job creation, and the unemployment rate were mentioned in 28 of 210 segments, or 13%.
• Unions and union activity were mentioned in 13 of 210 segments, or 6%.
• Wages were mentioned in 12 of 210 segments, or 6%.
• Economic inequality was mentioned in 10 of 210 segments, or 5%.
• Government health care programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act, were mentioned in 10 of 210 segments, or 5%.
• College debt and President Biden’s student loan forgiveness programs were mentioned in 10 of 210 segments, or 5%.
• Taxes were mentioned in 9 of 210 segments, or 4%.
• Economic growth was mentioned in 8 of 210 segments, or 4%.
• Trade policy, including tariffs, was mentioned in 8 of 210 segments, or 4%.
• Government regulations were mentioned in 6 of 210 segments, or 3%.
• National debt and the federal budget deficit were mentioned in 5 of 210 segments, or 2%.
• Social Security was mentioned in 5 of 210 segments, or 2%.
• Corporate profits were mentioned in 4 of 210 segments, or 2%.

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.

Update (5/2/24): The methodology has been updated to include additional search terms that we used in our data.