Blackout: Broadcast Networks Ignore GOP Bellwether Victory Against ObamaCare
After a Republican won a bellweather congressional election in Florida on Tuesday
night, the broadcast networks made no mention of it on Wednesday evening. That
came after they gave a pittance of coverage to the victory on Wednesday morning.
CBS was the only network to report on the race Tuesday evening, but
even they were nowhere to be seen the night after. Correspondent Nancy
Cordes had made it clear Tuesday that the race had serious implications:
"Both parties see this race as a referendum on the President's health
care law."
Cordes
added that "both parties are looking for bragging rights heading into
the fall election." Yet CBS spent a grand total of 20 seconds on
Republican David Jolly's victory on Wednesday morning before dropping
the story entirely Wednesday evening.
ABC and NBC combined for a whopping 33 seconds of coverage on the
election on Tuesday and Wednesday, with zero mention of it on their
evening newscasts.
In addition, Wednesday's Nightly News ignored NBC's own poll that had President Obama at an all-time low approval rating. Obama received just 41 percent approval and 54 percent disapproval in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, but NBC only reported the findings on Wednesday morning's Today show in a news brief. NBC ignored that ObamaCare's approval was also underwater.
Only 35 percent of respondents thought that ObamaCare was a "good idea," versus 49 percent deeming it a "bad idea." The Today show ignored those numbers, but did report that Republicans held a slight advantage when people were asked which party they wanted to see control Congress in November.
— Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Matt Hadro on Twitter.
