by WorldTribune Staff, October 16, 2016
Network news broadcasts, watched by an average of 22 to 24 million Americans each night, devoted less than a minute of coverage to the latest WikiLeaks revelations on Oct. 13 compared to 23 minutes on the unsubstantiated allegations of unwanted sexual advances lodged by four women against GOP candidate Donald Trump.
“Those leaked emails include derogatory comments about Catholics by senior Clinton campaign officials and more disturbing examples of collusion between the media and her campaign. It’s newsworthy stuff,” Joe Concha, media reporter for The Hill, wrote on Oct. 14.
“It’s understood what has always sold in this business: sizzle always trumps steak, sex always triumphs over substance. If you told me the coverage was 2-1 or even a 3-1 ratio of Trump to Clinton, you wouldn’t be reading this column right now,” Concha wrote.
“But a story winning the lead over another is one thing. Devouring it to the point of almost total omission via a more than 23:1 ratio is quite another.”
“NBC Nightly News” with Lester Holt devoted zero seconds to Hillary Clinton and WikiLeaks on Oct. 13.
“ABC World News Tonight” with David Muir gave it 30 seconds.
“CBS Evening News” with Scott Pelley devoted 27 seconds to the story.
From a Trump rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, on October 13:
“It’s one of the great political phenomenons. The most powerful weapon deployed by the Clintons is the corporate media, the press. Let’s be clear on one thing: The corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism. They are political special interest no different than any lobbyist or other financial entity with a total political agenda — and the agenda is not for you, it’s for themselves. Their agenda is to elect crooked Hillary Clinton at any cost, at any price, no matter how many lives they destroy. For them, it’s a war, and for them, nothing at all is out of bounds. This is a struggle for the survival of our nation. Believe me.”
Trump may have a point, Concha said.
“Somewhere around 23 million people absorbed Trump getting pulverized for 23 minutes across the Big Three broadcast network evening newscasts. Less than a minute combined was devoted to damaging documents pertaining to Clinton.”
Network news gave 23 times more coverage to Trump sex allegations than to new WikiLeaks Clinton emails added by World Tribune on
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