After receiving criticism for giving little coverage to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Fox News' three top-rated programs for 2009 devoted scant coverage to the disaster for a second night -- a combined total of 20 minutes and 40 seconds on January 14 -- while MSNBC's three top-rated shows devoted more than an hour and 45 minutes to discussing Haiti. The vast majority of the coverage on Fox's top-rated shows aired on The O'Reilly Factor; Beck's and Hannity's shows each aired less than four minutes of coverage of the disaster.
FOLLOW-UP REPORT: Beck and Hannity again devoted little coverage to earthquake in Haiti
Published
MSNBC's top programs again devote significantly more time to discussing aftermath of earthquake in Haiti
The O'Reilly Factor, Hannity, and Glenn Beck, Fox News' three top-rated programs for 2009, combined to devote a total of 20 minutes and 40 seconds of coverage to the earthquake in Haiti and its aftermath. Among the things Beck discussed instead of the earthquake were Senate majority leader Harry Reid's controversial comments; Hannity discussed the possibility that Republican candidate Scott Brown could win a special election for Massachusetts' U.S. Senate seat. Countdown, The Rachel Maddow Show, and Hardball, MSNBC's three top-rated shows, devoted 1 hour, 45 minutes, and 27 seconds to the earthquake -- more than five times the coverage aired by Fox News' top three shows.
A Media Matters study previously showed that Fox News' top-rated shows devoted less than seven minutes of coverage to discussing the earthquake on January 13, compared to MSNBC, which underscored the significance of the disaster in Haiti by devoting a total of more than two hours to the earthquake on its top-rated shows.
