2020 by the numbers

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

In 2020, Media Matters conducted data studies on a vast array of issues. Here are the numbers that defined the year:

  • 1001: Fox News segments that featured someone undermining public health recommendations on the coronavirus pandemic between September 1 and November 30.

  • 45: Trump interviews on Fox News (Trump did not give an interview to CNN or MSNBC).

  • 574: Claims on Fox News in a nine-day period that cast doubt or pushed conspiracy theories about the election results after the network declared Biden president-elect.

  • 12: Extra hours of programming that cable and corporate broadcast networks collectively aired of the Republican National Convention compared to the Democratic National Convention.

  • 275: Number of times Fox News promoted the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine as treatments for COIVD-19 over a 15-day period in March and April.

  • 36: Hours of coverage Fox devoted to Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s quest to smear Hunter Biden in about two weeks leading up to Election Day.

  • 0: Number of segments about Hurricane Delta on corporate TV broadcast outlets that mentioned climate change.

  • 475: Number of times Trump live-tweeted Fox News and Fox Business from the beginning of the year through December 15.

  • 20: Number of Scott Atlas interviews on Fox before Trump put him on the White House coronavirus task force.

  • 253: Number of times Fox News pushed coronavirus misinformation over a single July week.

  • 3: Hours of violent imagery Fox News prime-time shows broadcast in August while covering protests over racism and police brutality.

  • 1,638: Number of appearances by members of Trump’s impeachment defense team on Fox between 2017 and early 2020 (by comparison, they appeared 185 times on CNN and 85 times on MSNBC in the same time period).

  • 97: Congressional candidates who endorsed or promoted the deranged QAnon conspiracy theory.

  • 23: Known state legislative candidates who endorsed or promoted the deranged QAnon conspiracy theory.

  • 265: Number of times Trump amplified accounts promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory between 2017 and October 30, 2020.

  • 1: Minutes that broadcast and cable TV news reported on anti-trans violence in July and August.

  • 4: Percent of wildfire segments on ABC, CBS, and NBC in August that mentioned climate change.

  • 3,171: Combined appearances by 2020 RNC speakers on Fox News weekday programs from August 2017 until the 2020 convention started on August 24.

  • 7: Percent of corporate broadcast and cable TV news segments about the disparate death rates from COVID-19 from March 30-April 27 that connected them to air pollution or other environmental determinants.

  • 22: Seconds that Fox News' evening shows aired live footage of Trump's impeachment trial on January 23.

  • 365: Number of times Trump's impeachment defense team members appeared on weekday Fox News programming between January 2019 and January 2020.

  • 169: Number of times Trump has amplified QAnon-promoting Twitter accounts between when the coronavirus pandemic started through October 30.

  • 9 billion: Number of interactions right-leaning Facebook pages that post political content earned this year through December 15 (45% of the total interactions earned on political content by right-leaning, left-leaning, or ideological nonaligned pages).

  • 6: Number of right-leaning pages among the 10 top political pages that earned the most engagements on Facebook in 2020.