Mainstream news coverage of the economy from July 1 through Election Day still presented many of the same weaknesses Media Matters identified in similar surveys conducted in the first and second quarters of the year. News coverage of the economy on the most watched corporate broadcast programs remained relatively infrequent and often lacked context. On cable, CNN, which in previous surveys lagged far behind its competitors in prime-time coverage of the economy, frequently favored partisan political panels when covering economic topics. Meanwhile, despite an uptick in coverage among its competitors, The Wall Street Journal continued to dominate other top newspapers in economic news reporting, with the newspaper once again accounting for roughly half of the qualifying economic print reporting included in this survey.

Public opinion polls in the lead up to the election, as well as exit polls conducted in its aftermath, showed that continued dissatisfaction with the state of the economy and lingering contempt for inflation played a large part in securing Republican victories in key congressional races and the presidency. Dedicated newspaper readers, viewers of PBS News Hour, and viewers of MSNBC’s prime-time programming would have seen repeated coverage about improving inflationary and economic fundamentals, but millions of casual news consumers and viewers of other popular news programs, including corporate broadcast news’ millions of daily viewers, were often presented with an incomplete or misleading picture of these topics.

On a quarter-to-quarter basis, Media Matters found significant increases in the amount of economic news coverage in the third quarter of the year compared to the second quarter. Major newspapers led this surge with a 58% spike in newspaper coverage (134 qualifying articles versus 85 in the prior quarter), followed by prime-time cable news with a 44% increase in the number of segments on the economy (205 qualifying segments versus 142 in the previous quarter). Broadcast news coverage enjoyed only a modest 12% increase — 214 qualifying segments versus 191 the prior quarter — and has remained essentially stable from one quarter to the next throughout Media Matters’ surveys this year.

PBS remained in a league of its own with regard to substantive economic news coverage. In line with trends previously demonstrated in the first and second quarters of the year, PBS continued to vastly outperform its corporate broadcast competitors in terms of both the quality and quantity of economic news reporting on its flagship evening news program.

From July 1, 2024, through November 5, 2024, PBS News Hour once again produced roughly as much substantive economic news coverage as ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and CBS Weekend News, and NBC Nightly News combined.

While viewers of corporate broadcast news programs could often go days or weeks without seeing a major economic news report, viewers of PBS News Hour enjoyed in-depth reporting and analysis on a nightly basis. Even PBS’ least substantive segments, including the program’s daily stock market performance updates, could have been welcome reporting for the millions of viewers of ABC, CBS, and NBC, where record-high market closings and fluctuations in response to positive macroeconomic reports often went unreported.

ABC, CBS, and NBC routinely neglected to inform viewers about major economic news stories that might have affected their voting preferences in November. Glaring examples of corporate broadcast news failures during the survey period included but were not limited to: NBC airing just one qualifying economic report in the entire month of July, both CBS and NBC failing to mention a July 25 report showing that gross domestic product growth had far exceeded expectations during the second quarter, CBS failing to report on the quarterly GDP report for the third quarter, ABC and NBC failing to cover the monthly jobs report for August, and all three corporate broadcast networks failing to address the economic policy agenda laid out at the Democratic National Convention. CBS and NBC each failed to mention two separate inflation reports released in October showing continued stability in the consumer price index and personal consumption expenditures price index, both of which are closely-watched as metrics of inflation by both the public and policymakers.

CBS Evening News was the only corporate broadcast program to cover reports that an executive of the grocery chain Kroger had admitted to raising prices beyond the rate of inflation for certain items, which could have provided networks an opportunity to inform viewers about Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign pledge to tackle grocery price gouging.

Media Matters previously demonstrated that all three corporate broadcast networks had failed to discuss Vice President Harris’ transformational proposal to expand Medicare when the policy was first announced. While PBS News Hour covered the story with a lengthy report on the day it was announced, corporate broadcast networks largely ignored the proposal, with NBC Nightly News including only a brief mention of Harris’ plan during an update on policy ideas floated by the dueling presidential campaigns and ABC and CBS failing to mention it during their evening newscasts.

CNN increased prime-time economic coverage, but lagged far behind competitors overall. In the second quarter of the year, CNN remained largely absent from cable news discussions of major economic policy news and developments, featuring far fewer qualifying segments on the economy than its competitors at Fox News and MSNBC.

CNN significantly picked up the pace of its economic news coverage in the third quarter through Election Day, but still fell short of the volume of coverage offered by Fox and MSNBC — in part due to the fact that CNN did not register its first third quarter prime-time discussion of the economy until July 23. Many of the network’s economic news segments came in the form of panel discussions featuring one or more partisan pundits and political commentators debating rather than direct reporting.

Media Matters’ analysis found that from July 1 through November 5, 44 of CNN's 79 qualifying economic segments (56%) mentioned inflation, 31 segments (39%) discussed tax policy, 25 segments (32%) discussed job creation or the labor market, and 21 segments (27%) discussed trade policy. Economic news coverage frequently touched on more than one topic of discussion, particularly during panelist debates.

Fox News and MSNBC offered vastly different perspectives on the state of the economy. For the second consecutive survey period, Media Matters found that Fox News and MSNBC offered similar amounts of airtime to news coverage of the economy but with starkly different results. Fox slightly edged out MSNBC in the number of qualifying economic discussions (108 to 100, respectively), but the true disparity in their coverage was apparent in each network’s framing.

Inflation and taxes drove Fox’s coverage of the economy, with the network featuring tax policy in 69 segments (64% of qualifying coverage) and inflation in 62 segments (57%). Fox personalities misleadingly portrayed inflation as an out-of-control problem — created by the Biden-Harris administration’s policies — that Trump would specifically resolve if elected. The network’s discussions of tax policy often speculated about the need to implement additional tax cuts for corporations and high income earners, which Trump had proposed, while fearmongering that Harris and the Democrats would increase taxes to unsustainable levels. Other key topics in Fox's economic reporting included government spending (27 segments, or 25%), job creation and the labor market (25 segments, or 23%), health care (25 segments, or 23%), and government regulations (20 segments, or 19%).

On MSNBC, trade policy discussions actually narrowly edged out inflation as the most common topic of discussion in prime-time, with the network featuring 29 discussions of trade policy (representing 29% of qualifying coverage) and 28 discussions of inflation (or 28%). As in the second quarter, MSNBC’s coverage of inflation largely focused on the continued stability of all key metrics in the lead up to Election Day, and the network’s hosts and guests increasingly featured reporting and commentary about how the tax, trade, and deportation policies proposed by Donald Trump were likely to reignite inflation. MSNBC’s coverage of trade policy overwhelmingly centered on the deleterious effects Trump’s proposals for punitive tariffs on imported goods would have on American consumers and the economy overall. MSNBC also featured 26 qualifying segments on tax policy (26%), 22 segments covering the stock market and frequently discussing record-high closings during the survey period (22%), and 21 segments on health care (21%), including several mentions of Harris' proposal to expand Medicare coverage.

As in the second quarter of the year, The Wall Street Journal was again responsible for roughly half of all front-page economic news coverage in the survey period that included the third quarter of the year through Election Day. This remained true even as each of its top competitors increased their total coverage of the economy compared to the prior survey period.

The composition of front-page news coverage changed little from the previous reporting period. Inflation remained the most prevalent topic of discussion in print media front-page coverage of the economy, accounting for nearly half (86 of 186 qualifying articles, or 46%) of all front-page news coverage included in this assessment. The job market accounted for the next largest portion of newspaper coverage (75 of 186 articles, or 40%) during the survey period, which included multiple noteworthy jobs reports and a major revision to government employment estimates from the previous year. Stock market performances accounted for 66 of 186 qualifying stories (or 35%) during the survey period, which included a number of record-high closing milestones on the nation’s most watched financial indexes. Rounding out the biggest newspaper topics during the survey period were discussions of tax policy (41 articles, or 22%) and wages (39 articles, or 21%).

Discussions of corporate profits (34 articles, or 18%) and unions (33 articles, or 18%) both spiked noticeably from the prior survey period, during which those topics were mentioned in just 12% and 8% of print coverage, respectively. The increase in coverage on both topics was driven by the aforementioned strikes and labor activities, as well as by banner corporate earnings reports from large American companies. Coverage of corporate profits also included criticism of Vice President Harris’ campaign proposal to combat corporate price gouging.

Below is a thorough rundown of the economic topics that Media Matters found in five top newspapers’ front-page coverage of the economy from the start of the third quarter through Election Day.

• Inflation was mentioned in 86 of 186 qualifying economic news articles, or 46%.
• Jobs and employment were mentioned in 75 articles, or 40%.
• The stock market was mentioned in 66 articles, or 35%.
• Taxes were mentioned in 41 articles, or 22%.
• Wages were mentioned in 39 articles, or 21%.
• Corporate profits were mentioned in 34 articles, or 18%.
• Unions and union activity were mentioned in 33 articles, or 18%.
• Economic growth was mentioned in 30 articles, or 16%.
• Government regulations were mentioned in 27 articles, or 15%.
• Trade policy, including tariffs, was mentioned in 26 articles, or 14%.
• Government health care programs — including Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act — were mentioned in 16 articles, or 9%.
• Government spending was mentioned in 15 articles, or 8%.
• Social Security was mentioned in 15 articles, or 8%.
• National debt and the federal budget deficit were mentioned in 14 articles, or roughly 8%.
• Economic inequality and poverty was mentioned in 8 articles, or 4%.
• College debt and President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness programs were mentioned in 1 article, or approximately 1%.

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' News Hour, 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 the start of the third quarter on July 1, 2024, through November 5, 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 the start of the third quarter on July 1, 2024, through November 5, 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 July 1, 2024, through November 5, 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