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,” “regulation,” or “loan” from April 1, 2024, through the second quarter of the year ending June 30, 2024.
We searched transcripts in the Nexis and Kinetiq databases for all original episodes of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, The Source with Kaitlan Collins, and CNN Newsnight; Fox News Channel's Jesse Watters Primetime, Hannity, and Gutfeld!; MSNBC’s Inside with Jen Psaki, All In with Chris Hayes, The Rachel Maddow Show, Alex Wagner Tonight, and The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, for the same search terms from April 1, 2024, through the second quarter of the year ending June 30, 2024.
We searched front-page print articles in the Factiva database from the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post for the same search terms from April 1, 2024, through the second quarter of the year ending June 30, 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 or article 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 also included front-page articles, which we defined as instances when the American economy was mentioned in the headline or lead paragraphs of each paper. We did not include editorial, op-eds, or letters-to-the-editor.
We then reviewed the identified segments and articles and determined whether they included mention of any of the following: the federal budget deficit or the national debt; economic, income, wealth inequality, or references to any anti-poverty program; inflation (including monetary inflation), price increases, purchasing power, or price gouging; state, local, or federal minimum wages or government reports on payroll or discussion of income changes; jobs reports, the unemployment rate, jobs growth, or changes to employment both regionally and nationally; corporate profits and revenues; the economic impact of government regulation or discussion of economic regulations broadly; state, local, or federal taxes on personal income, wealth, or corporate revenue; imports, exports, tariffs, or international trade agreements and negotiations; labor unions, strikes, or worker organizing; the federal budget or any federal funding or spending legislation, deals, or continuing resolutions to avoid government shutdowns; Social Security; the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, or Medicaid; student debt and college loans; or the stock market.
Percentages may not add up to 100% because individual segments and articles could include multiple economic indicators and/or because of rounding.
Definitions of terms
- Debt and deficit: Federal budget deficit and/or national debt
- Poverty or Economic inequality: Economic, income, or wealth inequality or references to any anti-poverty program
- Inflation: Inflation broadly, inclusive of monetary inflation, price increases, purchasing power, or price gouging
- Jobs and employment: Discussion of the monthly job creation, jobs report, general employment situation (nationally or regionally), jobs created by federal legislation, or unemployment rate
- Profits: Corporate profits and revenues
- Regulations: Economic impacts of government regulations or discussion of economic regulations broadly
- Taxes: State, local, or federal taxes on personal income, wealth, or corporate revenue
- Trade: Imports, exports, tariffs, or international trade agreements and negotiations
- Unions: Labor unions, strikes, or worker organizing
- Wages: State, local, or federal minimum wages. Government reports on average hourly earnings and/or wages. General discussion of income changes
- Growth: Discussion of economic growth, GDP/GNP
- Social Security: Social Security/SSDI
- Government spending: Budget proposals, continuing resolutions, any legislation related to federal government funding/spending
- Health care and health insurance: Any mentions of federally provided/regulated health care/insurance, particularly The Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Medicaid, and VA health care
- College debt: Discussion of college debt and student loan forgiveness programs
- Stock market: Discussion of stock market performance
