On January 13, Fox News' three top-rated programs for 2009 -- The O'Reilly Factor, Hannity, and Glenn Beck -- devoted a combined total of less than 7 minutes of coverage to the earthquake in Haiti, instead choosing to air such things as Beck's hour-long interview with Sarah Palin, Bill O'Reilly's discussion of Comedy Central host Jon Stewart, and Sean Hannity's advocacy for Massachusetts candidate Scott Brown's Senate campaign. By contrast, the content of MSNBC's three top-rated shows underscored the significance of the Haiti disaster; Countdown, The Rachel Maddow Show, and Hardball devoted a total of more than two hours to the earthquake.
REPORT: Top Fox News programs devote scant coverage to Haiti earthquake
Published
MSNBC's top programs provide more than 18 times as much coverage of Haiti earthquake as Fox News' top shows
The O'Reilly Factor, Hannity, and Glenn Beck, Fox News' three top-rated programs for 2009, combined to devote a total of 6 minutes, 41 seconds of coverage to the earthquake in Haiti. Among the things they chose to air instead were Beck's interview with Palin -- to which he devoted nearly his entire show -- Hannity's continued advocacy for Brown; and O'Reilly's discussion of Stewart. Countdown, The Rachel Maddow Show, and Hardball, MSNBC's three top-rated shows, devoted 2 hours, 2 minutes and 33 seconds to the earthquake -- more than 18 times the coverage devoted by Fox News' top three shows. Other Fox News shows -- such as Special Report with Bret Baier and The Fox Report with Shepard Smith -- did devote extensive coverage to the earthquake.
Fox News' three top-rated programs largely ignored earthquake
According to a Media Matters review, O'Reilly, Hannity, and Beck devoted only 6 minutes and 41 seconds of coverage to the earthquake on their January 13 editions.
Glenn Beck
Segment start
Segment end
Time
5:29:11
5:29:48
37 seconds
Total
37 seconds
The O'Reilly Factor
Segment start
Segment end
Time
8:00:20
8:00:43
23 seconds
8:01:33
8:04:06
2 minutes 33 seconds
Total
2 minutes 56 seconds
Hannity
Segment start
Segment end
Time
9:00:11
9:02:17
2 minutes 6 seconds
9:30:10
9:31:04
54 seconds
9:39:40
9:39:48
8 seconds
Total
3 minutes 8 seconds
By contrast, MSNBC's three top-rated programs provided extensive earthquake coverage
A Media Matters review finds that MSNBC aired 2 hours, 2 minutes and 33 seconds of earthquake coverage on the January 13 editions of Hardball (7 p.m.), Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and The Rachel Maddow Show.
Hardball -- 7 p.m. edition
Segment start
Segment end
Time
7:00:15
7:12:10
11 minutes 55 seconds
7:15:25
7:22:39
7 minutes 14 seconds
7:25:48
7:36:35
10 minutes 47 seconds
7:53:43
8:00:22
6 minutes 39 seconds
Total
36 minutes 35 seconds
Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Segment start
Segment end
Time
8:00:23
8:18:15
17 minutes 52 seconds
8:20:20
8:25:21
5 minutes 1 second
8:26:46
8:33:23
6 minutes 37 seconds
8:36:56
8:38:42
1 minute 46 seconds
8:41:46
8:45:00
3 minutes 14 seconds
8:47:05
8:49:20
2 minutes 15 seconds
8:50:55
8:52:02
1 minute 7 seconds
8:55:04
9:00:15
5 minutes 11 seconds
Total
43 minutes 3 seconds
The Rachel Maddow Show
Segment start
Segment end
Time
9:00:20
9:12:56
12 minutes 36 seconds
9:14:00
9:15:15
1 minute 15 seconds
9:17:39
9:29:15
11 minutes 36 seconds
9:32:47
9:43:32
10 minutes 45 seconds
9:46:26
9:48:53
2 minutes 27 seconds
9:50:58
9:51:09
11 seconds
9:52:43
9:55:50
3 minutes 7 seconds
9:59:02
10:00:00
58 seconds
Total
42 minutes 55 seconds
[All times in charts are Eastern time.]
Drew Sandquist contributed to this item.