STUDY: Big Three Networks Attack Comey Over Clinton by 3 to 1
Ever since it was announced, on Friday, that the FBI was pursuing new leads into the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s e-mail server scandal, the Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) networks have gone into attack mode against James Comey, turning what should be a scandal about Clinton into a smear against the FBI director.
Beginning with the evening (October 28) of the announcement through Monday morning (October 31) MRC analysts reviewed all statements (by reporters, analysts, and partisans) that took a position on Comey and Clinton and found arguments against Comey (88) swamped those against Clinton (31) by a ratio of almost 3 to 1. There were a handful of statements that praised either Comey (10) or Clinton (4)
MRC analysts also discovered that the Big Three networks’ evening (ABC’s World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News) and morning show programs (ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, NBC’s Today) devoted a total of 2 hours, 19 minutes and 49 seconds to the Comey story.
Network anchors immediately questioned Comey. On the October 30 edition of Good Morning America co-anchor and Clinton Foundation donor George Stephanopoulos slammed Comey: “It’s hard to know what’s going through James Comey’s mind right now. Remember when he came out in July? He broke tradition back in July when he gave the press conference. Rather than simply closing the investigation, he said he was doing it because there was such intense public interest in this case. You would think that same standard would drive him to release more details.”
STUDY: Big Three Networks Attack Comey Over Clinton by 3 to 1