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Research/Study
Fox has mentioned the Inflation Reduction Act more than twice as much as CNN — and 40% more than MSNBC — since its passage two years ago
Only 17% of mentions during peak coverage of the legislation in 2022 also mentioned climate and energy
Published
In the two years since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law — allocating a historic $369 billion in climate and energy funding, among numerous other provisions — Media Matters found that Fox News, whose coverage largely attacked the landmark legislation, aired nearly half of all mentions of the IRA among the three major cable news networks.
Despite the IRA becoming a driving force for job creation through new clean energy projects and manufacturing across the country, and with millions of families benefiting from tax credits in the law that lower “the costs of clean energy and energy efficiency upgrades to their home,” poll after poll has suggested that most Americans have heard little or nothing about the Inflation Reduction Act, and few know about the climate provisions within the legislation.
National cable news networks can play a significant role in communicating major federal policies and placing key ideas into the cultural and political landscape. For example, in 2021 Fox News helped make “critical race theory” — a decades-old academic framework that explores how racism is structurally embedded in U.S. institutions — a common phrase in the media as part of a right-wing culture war campaign. Fox mentioned CRT over 3,900 times that year, including at least 900 times in June alone, while MSNBC mentioned it 1,182 times, and CNN 672 times. By comparison over a two-year period, all three networks combined mentioned the Inflation Reduction Act just 3,878 times in total, and references to climate and energy were sparse across all three networks during their peak coverage of the legislation.
Key Findings:
- The Inflation Reduction Act was mentioned 3,878 times combined on cable news networks CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC from August 16, 2022, when it was signed into law by President Joe Biden, through August 16, 2024.
- Of those mentions, 1,816 aired on Fox News (47%), 1,297 were on MSNBC, and 765 on CNN.
- Notably, 42% of all mentions (1,617) of the IRA on cable news aired from August 16, 2022, through October 31, 2022. During that peak period, climate and energy were mentioned in proximity to the IRA only 17% of the time.
- During the same period around the legislation’s one-year anniversary – August 16, 2023, through October 31, 2023 – IRA mentions dropped by 76%, and climate and energy were discussed alongside the IRA only 24% of the time.