The media have gone on a Kamala Harris binge since the vice president moved swiftly to replace President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s 2024 candidate of choice, giving her the most positive coverage in modern history.
At the same time, and nearly as expected, the same media have gone on a scorched-earth campaign against former President Donald Trump, giving the Republican nominee what is likely to be a historic level of negative coverage.
That assessment comes from the latest review of network news from the conservative watchdog, the Media Research Center, which found that 84% of the coverage of Harris has been positive, while 89% of Trump’s has been negative on CBS, NBC, and ABC.
“Not only has Harris received 66% more airtime than former President Donald Trump, but the spin of Harris’s coverage has been more positive (84%) than any other major party nominee, even as Trump’s coverage has been nearly entirely hostile (89% negative),” according to the new report shared with Secrets.
“Add it all up, and the networks have granted the combined Democratic ticket of Harris-Walz 82% positive press, while Trump-Vance have faced 90% negative coverage,” author Rich Noyes wrote.
The media’s cheerleading has continued into this week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where the pro-Harris coverage will reach a peak.
Still, polls and social media posts appear to show that as drunk as reporters and news anchors are for Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (R-MN), the public sees through it. In a Rasmussen Reports poll shared with Secrets, 60% of likely voters said they believe the media “try to help the candidate they want to win.”
And that is Harris, according to 57% of those polled.
But there is more to just positive press, which has favored Democratic presidential candidates over the past six decades.
Noyes also found that the three biggest outlets are not questioning Harris’s positions, are downplaying controversies such as Walz’s lying about his military resume, and are hyping nonexistent momentum for the Democratic ticket, which has been tied with the GOP ticket for two weeks.
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“As the Democratic National Convention begins, the Big Three evening newscasts have delivered Kamala Harris the most positive start to a general election campaign of any presidential nominee in recent memory. Not only is she getting the most coverage, she’s also getting by far the most positive press,” Noyes wrote.
“The question is whether the public will be swayed by this extraordinarily lopsided coverage, or will they see this as just more evidence of a partisan news media taking sides,” he added.