Research/Study
Mainstream cable news and broadcast networks aired only 19 minutes over the past 75 days scrutinizing Trump's impossible pledge to cut energy prices in half
Published
Mainstream cable news and broadcast networks undercovered former President Donald Trump’s pledge to cut energy prices by 50% within one year of taking office — a plan experts have noted he would be unlikely to achieve absent a global recession.
As CNN economic reporter Matt Egan reported: “If we see sub-$2 gasoline, it will be because of some awful things taking place in the economy.”
The lack of coverage is particularly glaring, not only because it allows this pledge — a core tenet of Trump’s plan to bring down inflation — to go mostly unscrutinized, but also because the economy has consistently polled as a top issue for voters.
A Media Matters analysis found that from August 14, when Trump announced the pledge at a rally in North Carolina, through October 28:
- Combined, cable news networks CNN and MSNBC and corporate broadcast networks – ABC, CBS, and NBC – dedicated only 19 minutes to the pledge.
- Of the networks that covered it, CNN aired the most coverage, with 13 minutes. MSNBC aired slightly more than 5 minutes, and NBC aired about a minute.
- On broadcast, only NBC aired a segment discussing the pledge. CBS briefly mentioned it in a segment about another topic, while ABC aired no coverage of it.
Trump has pledged to cut energy prices in half repeatedly throughout his campaign at rallies and during media appearances. Along with imposing tariffs, cutting energy prices is part of his economic plan to supposedly bring down inflation and the cost of things like groceries and gas.
Media Matters has already demonstrated on numerous occasions that many mainstream news outlets have been asleep at the wheel in describing the stakes of Trump’s economic policy proposals. This is but one more example.