Major broadcast networks devoted time to covering Supreme Court decisions that aligned with liberal values while ignoring wins that favored conservatives.
A new study from the conservative NewsBusters found that the big networks – ABC, CBS, and NBC – spent nearly 25 minutes covering Supreme Court decisions that were considered wins for liberals and absolutely no time covering the decisions that were considered wins for conservatives. In the past two weeks, the Supreme Court issued six major rulings, three of which were considered positive for conservatives and three that were considered positive for liberals.
“[A]s a Media Research Center study discovered, the broadcast evening newscasts only focused on the wins for Democrats. Those wins were on gay rights in the workplace, keeping Obama’s executive order on illegal immigrants who arrived as children, and striking down [a] Louisiana abortion law requiring hospital admissions privileges. In all, they gave the liberal wins almost 25 minutes (24:55) of airtime,” NewsBusters reported. “Contrast that with the rulings the networks completely blacked out: quick deportations for failed asylum seekers (June 25), executive branch control over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) (June 29), and religious freedom via school choice (June 30).”
Further, the amount of airtime dedicated to each of the liberal wins “shows us who they prioritized in the left’s identity politics hierarchy,” the outlet added.
On gay rights, one of the points the liberal networks reveled in was conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch siding with the liberal justices, even writing the opinion. Each network gave their win a full report. ABC’s World News Tonight dedicated two minutes, one second; CBS Evening News gave it two minutes, 39 seconds; NBC Nightly News had two minutes, 12 seconds.
It was similar with DACA as Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the liberals in the majority. ABC’s report lasted three minutes, 55 seconds; CBS had two back-to-back reports that ate up six minutes, nine seconds; NBC had the least with two minutes, 18 seconds. And as NewsBusters noted at the time, the networks first celebrated the DACA decision as a “big blow” to President Trump before saying it was a win for the so-called “Dreamers.”
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The Supreme Court striking down Louisiana’s protections for mothers and the unborn got the least amount of airtime out of their wins, but still received full reports from all three. ABC gave it one minute, 47 seconds; CBS clocked in at two minutes, six seconds; and NBC inched out ABC with one minute, 48 seconds.
Not only did the networks champion the liberal-leaning decisions, they made sure to note when conservative justices sided with liberal justices (while ignoring the decisions where liberal justices sided with conservative justices).
“The math was simple: three wins for liberals and three wins for conservatives. But only one batch was even noted, let alone celebrated by the broadcast networks,” NewsBusters concluded.
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