TV coverage in North Carolina of rallies by candidates, Graham called ‘selective’

by WorldTribune Staff, October 16, 2016

Donald Trump is packing huge arenas with tens of thousands of supporters on a daily basis while Hillary Clinton plays to much smaller audiences.

Media consumers limited to major outlets would never be aware of this huge discrepancy in attendance, online critics have pointed out.

Oct. 13 Franklin Graham rally in Raleigh.
Oct. 13 Franklin Graham rally in Raleigh.

The same is even true in relatively conservative North Carolina, where major television outlets all but ignored Franklin Graham’s massive Decision America rally in Raleigh on Oct. 13.

“If you try to find any articles or footage on the Web sites of WRAL, WTVD or WNCN, you’re out of luck,” thechesserfiles.com blog noted on Oct. 14.

“A search of all three on ‘Franklin Graham’ brings up nothing on WRAL or WTVD about the rally; for WNCN, you get a write-up and a still photo (with no crowd shot) from WBTV in Charlotte.”

WRAL was downright misleading in its coverage of the huge turnout, one source told the site.

“So tonight on the WRAL News David Crabtree reported on this rally today in Raleigh with Rev. Franklin Graham. They showed a couple of close up pictures of the crowd showing only a few people in the frame and stated that it had ‘hundreds’ in attendance. According to Graham there were about 14,000. Even if there were only 50 percent of that number it is way more than hundreds. If this had been a rally with Rev. William Barber I can promise you it would have been reported to have been 25,000 or more.”

Barber, a prominent minister in North Carolina, also servers on the NAACP’s national board.

The report noted that “WBTV’s report accurately but vaguely reflected the crowd size, but they seemed to think the most newsworthy aspect of the event was Graham calling for the resignation of Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts for leading the way on the transgender bathroom ordinance that led us to HB2.”

The Charlotte Observer‘s Tim Funk reported the State Capitol police estimated the Graham rally crowd size at 10,500.

“The point, however, is that when reporting on an event like this, SIZE MATTERS,” the Chesser Files added. “It can be argued that this is a subset of the massive rallies that Donald Trump has held all over the country, which the elite media is giving little attention to.”