Priorities: Networks Devote an Additional 85 Minutes to Royal Baby, Still Mum on IRS Latest
The three network morning shows on Tuesday predictably lost all perspective over the birth of the royal baby, devoting a staggering 85 minutes of coverage to Britain's new prince. Yet, ABC, NBC and CBS still declined to offer any update on a political story important to America, the widening Internal Revenue Service scandal.
Over four hours, the Today show obsessed over the royal birth for 41 minutes and 19 seconds (or 16 segments). Good Morning America, half the length of its NBC counterpart, almost equaled Today with 33 minutes and 16 seconds (13 segments). Just as on Monday, CBS This Morning showed the most restraint. The journalists there allowed a mere five segments over ten minutes and 43 seconds. Over two days, the three networks deluged America with 64 segments or 158 minutes.
Did anything else of import happen on Tuesday? Three American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan after a suicide bomber attacked. GMA could only spare 11 seconds for this story. Today allowed a mere 20 seconds (out of four hours).
On Monday, NBC, CBS and ABC excitedly previewed the prince's birth for 73 minutes.
Last week it was revealed that IRS employees were ordered by superiors to send data on the Tea Party to then-chief counsel (and Barack Obama apointee) William Wilkins. This development has been ignored by the networks (with the exception of a mention on Face the Nation).
How much longer will coverage of the birth of another country's prince continue to dominate the attention of supposedly serious journalists?
The sum total of GMA's interest in a suicide attack on American troops can be found below:
GMA
07/23/13
11 seconds
JOSH ELLIOTT: And three American soldiers are said to have been killed today in eastern Afghanistan. They were on patrol when a suicide bomber on a donkey and promptly blew himself up. The Taliban is claiming responsibility for the attack.
-- Scott Whitlock is the senior news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
