Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on Fox News Channel for any of the terms “Walz” (including misspellings), “Trump,” “former president,” “governor,” “vice president,” “nominee,” “candidate,” or “Minnesota,” within close proximity of any of the terms “George Floyd,” “Black Lives Matter,” “BLM,” “unrest,” or “Minneapolis” or any variations of any of the terms “riot,” “protest,” or “violence” also within close proximity of any of the terms “leak,” “audio,” “phone,” “call,” “National Guard,” “big numbers,” “very happy,” “support,” “laud,” “encourage,” or “praise” from August 7, 2024, when news media obtained audio of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump praising Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz for his response to the 2020 George Floyd protests as the governor of Minnesota, through on August 11, 2024.
We timed segments, which we defined as instances when Trump's phone call praising Walz's response to the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests was the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of the call. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed the call with one another.
We also timed mentions, which we defined as instances when a single speaker in a segment on another topic mentioned the call without another speaker in the segment engaging with the comment, and teasers, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host promoted a segment about the call scheduled to air later in the broadcast.
We rounded all times to the nearest minute.
