Fox And PBS Expand Lead Over Competitors In Economic News Coverage

PBS More Than Twice As Likely To Cover Economy Than Three Broadcast Competitors Combined. The major broadcast networks -- ABC, CBS, and NBC -- dedicated fewer segments to the economy during the third quarter of 2016 than they did in either of the previous two quarters and spent less time on the economy as the year wore on. Each network lagged far behind PBS, which aired more than twice as many economic segments (48) as the other three networks combined (19). PBS was also the only broadcast outlet to focus more on the economy in the third quarter of the year than in the second.** [Media Matters, 4/25/16, 8/1/16]

Fox Remains Far Ahead of Cable Competitors In Economic Coverage. From July through September, Fox News aired 76 segments highlighting economic news and policy during prime-time programming -- a slight decline from the previous three months -- compared to just 25 from MSNBC and 35 from CNN. CNN aired slightly more economic news segments during the third quarter than during the prior reporting period, but MSNBC’s coverage of the economy was cut virtually in half:

Sunday Show Coverage Of The Economy Continues To Fall. In the third quarter of 2016, the main Sunday political talk shows on ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox Broadcasting, and NBC combined to feature substantive discussions of economic news and policy in just 39 segments after featuring 51 such segments during the prior reporting period:

Coverage Of Economic Inequality Rises On Weekdays, Falls On Sundays

Economic Inequality Discussed In Roughly Four In 10 Prime-Time And Evening News Segments. Of the 203 combined economic news segments featured during prime-time and evening programming on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC in the third quarter of 2016, 85 -- or 42 percent -- directly addressed policies or topics relating to economic inequality. Ninety percent -- or 77 out of 85 -- of segments discussing economic inequality specifically dealt with poverty. This total represents a substantial increase in coverage from the prior three-month reporting period, when the same programs featured 67 similar segments, accounting for 29 percent of their total economic coverage. [Media Matters, 4/25/16, 8/1/16]

Sunday Show Focus On Inequality Decreases For First Half Of 2016. Of the 39 combined economic segments featured on the five major Sunday political talk shows during the third quarter of 2016, 13 -- 33 percent -- directly addressed economic inequality. This represents a significant decline from the prior quarter, which coincides with a drop in appearances from Sen. Bernie Sanders from 17 to just four. Sunday shows in the second quarter featured 22 similar segments, accounting for 43 percent of their total coverage:

PBS Dominates Broadcast Coverage Of Inequality; Fox News Far Outpaces Cable Competition. The three major broadcast news outlets focused less on economic inequality in the third quarter of the year than during the prior three-month period and were far outpaced by PBS, which dedicated more than six times as much coverage (20) to the topic as ABC, CBS, and NBC combined (3). PBS was the only broadcast outlet to increase its coverage of inequality from the previous three-month period. Meanwhile, Fox News aired 38 qualifying segments on economic inequality during the third quarter of the year. Fox’s coverage of economic equality was largely from one show, Hannity, which represented over 70 percent (27) of Fox News’ discussions and frequently used economic inequality as a foil to claim President Obama’s economic policies had failed. Fox’s coverage once again considerably outstripped similar coverage from CNN (16) and MSNBC (8):

Sunday Show Coverage Of Inequality Cut By More Than Half. The five major Sunday political talk shows combined to air just 13 qualifying segments focused on economic inequality and poverty in the third quarter of the year, down from a combined 28 segments during the previous three-month period:

Fox News Stands Out Among All Cable And Broadcast Outlets For Economic Misinformation Based On Right-Wing Talking Points

Fox News Remains Only Prominent Voice For Deficit Reduction. Fox News was responsible for 15 of the 20 cable news segments focused on debt and deficit reduction during the third quarter of 2016, dedicating far more attention to the topic than CNN (4) and MSNBC (1). Fox’s particular attention to the national debt and federal budget deficit is a long-running theme for the network, which has been an outsized voice in hyping the supposed threat presented by fiscal shortfalls for more than three years. [Media Matters, 4/25/16, 8/1/16]

Fox Continues Promoting “Pro-Growth” Tax Policies That Have Failed In The Past. Fox News was responsible for more than half (33) of the total cable news segments focused on policies aimed at stoking job creation and economic growth, with CNN (17) and MSNBC (nine) lagging far behind. Nearly half of those segments (15) included a Fox host or guest promoting supposed “pro-growth” tax cuts, which have proved to be an ineffective tool for increasing economic activity. [Congressional Research Service, 9/14/12; Brookings Institution, September 2014]

Fox News’ Lonely Advocacy Of New Tax Cuts. Despite being the only significant source of economic segments focused on deficit reduction, Fox News aired 24 segments during the third quarter of the year that either endorsed further tax cuts or warned of the negative impact of taxes on the overall economy. All other broadcast and cable outlets combined for just eight similar segments. Meanwhile, MSNBC was the primary source of news coverage discussing the positive side effects of increasing tax revenue to fund important investments in infrastructure, education, or social welfare programs:

Fox News Remains Only Voice Of Opposition On Increased Minimum Wage. Broadcast and cable news coverage of proposals to increase local, state, and federal minimum wages was overwhelmingly positive in the third quarter of the year. Media Matters identified 15 segments in which a host or guest discussed the benefits of increased minimum wages -- CNN (5), Fox News (2), MSNBC (4), PBS (4) -- compared to just three segments outlining supposed negative side effects of such wage increases. As was the case during the previous quarterly survey, all of the opposition came from Fox News.

Number Of Economists Booked In Evening And Prime Time Hits Record High

Economists Account For Over 8 Percent Of Economic News Guests. Of the 250 guests who appeared during evening broadcast and prime-time cable news discussions of the economy in the third quarter of the year, 21 -- or just over 8 percent -- were economists. This figure represents the most economists ever recorded as a proportion of economic news guests in the history of Media Matters’ analysis and builds on a previous all-time high set during the second quarter of 2016. The first economists featured during an economic news segment in the third quarter appeared on the August 5 edition of PBS NewsHour after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump unveiled a 13-man economic advisory team. [Media Matters, 8/5/16]

Former Obama Adviser Austan Goolsbee Remains Most Prominent Economist On Television. University of Chicago economist Austan Goolsbee, a former chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), remained the most prominent economist on television for the third consecutive quarter, registering eight appearances. Goolsbee is a Fox News contributor, and he used frequent appearances on the network to fact-check misinformation and defend progressive policies from right-wing media attacks. University of California, Berkeley economist Robert Reich (three appearances), Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore (three), and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities senior fellow Jared Bernstein (two) were the only other economists to appear more than once.

Only One Woman Economist Appeared During Weekday Programming. University of Michigan economist Betsey Stevenson, a former chief economist at the Department of Labor, was the only woman economist to appear during the survey period.

Sunday Shows Completely Ignored Economists’ Perspectives. Of the 45 guests who appeared during Sunday political programming focused on the economy, zero were economists. This poor performance represents a significant drop from the previous quarter, when three economists appeared during similar programming. Virtually every guest during Sunday economic news segments (41) was a politician, political adviser, or campaign surrogate.

Women Remain Marginalized In Television Coverage Of The Economy

Women Accounted For Just Over One-Quarter Of Economic News Guests. In the third quarter of 2016, just 66 women -- or just over 26 percent -- appeared out of the 250 total guests during qualifying broadcast and cable news discussions focused on the economy. The gender disparity continues a stubborn trend among news outlets dating to at least 2013. CNN was the only outlet to even attempt to approach gender parity, with women accounting for roughly 43 percent of guests -- 34 of 80. PBS featured eight women as guests during qualifying economic news segments (25 percent) and MSNBC featured just six (20 percent). Fox News’ economic coverage featured just 18 women out of 108 total guests (17 percent):

Women Accounted for Only 20 Percent Of Sunday Guests. Women accounted for only nine of 45 guests during qualifying Sunday programming -- 20 percent. This represents a drop from the second quarter, when women made up 24 percent of guests:

Previous quarterly and biannual economic indicator tracking reports are available here: second quarter, 2016; first quarter, 2016; third and fourth quarters, 2015; first and second quarters, 2015; third and fourth quarters, 2014; second quarter, 2014; first quarter, 2014; fourth quarter, 2013; third quarter, 2013; second quarter, 2013.

Methodology

** PBS dedicates more daily airtime to live news than its broadcast competitors, and its news programming is commercial-free. This increased programming range allows the PBS NewsHour to feature more significant and in-depth discussions of the economy than ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, and NBC’s Nightly News.

Media Matters conducted a Nexis search of transcripts of network broadcast news and cable prime-time (defined as 8 p.m. through 11 p.m.) weekday programs on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC from July 1, 2016, through September 30, 2016. We identified and reviewed all segments that included any of the following keywords: econom! or jobs or growth or debt or deficit or minimum wage or inequality or taxes or poverty or low income or low-income or obamacare or aca or affordable care act or health care.

The following programs were included in the data: World News Tonight, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, CBS Evening News, Face the Nation, NBC Nightly News, Meet the Press, PBS NewsHour, State of the Union, Anderson Cooper 360, CNN Tonight, The O'Reilly Factor, The Kelly File, Hannity, All In with Chris Hayes, The Rachel Maddow Show, and The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. For shows that air reruns, only the first airing was included in data retrieval. This survey includes CNN’s second live hour of Anderson Cooper 360 during the 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. time slot.

For this study, Media Matters included only segments that contained substantial discussion of policy implications on the macroeconomy. We defined a “substantial discussion” as any segment where a host dedicates a monologue, or portion of a monologue, to economic news or policy analysis, or any segment where two or more guests discuss economic news or a policy topic. We did not include teasers or clips of news events, or rebroadcasts of news packages that were already counted when they first aired in the 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. survey window.

We defined segments that discuss economic inequality as those that mention the socioeconomic disparity between high- and low-income individuals.

We defined segments that call for deficit reduction as a priority as those where either the host or guest mentions deficit and debt reduction as pressing needs.

We defined segments that call for economic growth as a priority as those where either the host or guest mentions economic growth and job creation as pressing needs.

We defined segments that identify tax increases as having a negative impact on the economy as those where either the host or guest mentions that tax increases are holding back job creation or economic growth as well as those where either the host or guest advocates tax cuts to spur job creation or economic growth. In some instances, a host or guest conflated general or specific government regulations with tax increases.

We defined segments that promote myths about the economic effects of the Affordable Care Act as those where either the host or guest suggests that the Affordable Care Act is holding back job growth, increasing part-time work, or restricting business activity, as well as those where either the host or guest proposes repealing the Affordable Care Act as a means of stimulating the economy.

We defined segments that promoted myths about the economic effects of increasing the minimum wage as those where either the host or guest alleges that a minimum wage increase would lead to job losses, an increase in part-time work, or restricted business activity.