Long a staple on local TV news, the Big Three networks are now turning to crime for ratings, and for a second month made police misconduct the top story, even more than the killer floods in Texas, ISIS beheadings and the 2016 presidential race.
A new study from the Media Research Center found that the ABC, CBS, NBC devoted 108 minutes to the police story, making the overwhelming coverage our pick for the Mainstream Media Scream of the week.
“Nearly all of that network airtime was devoted to just three instances of alleged misconduct (in Baltimore, Cleveland and Madison, Wisconson), plus general discussion of the topic. In contrast, all of the other murders committed in the U.S. in May garnered less than half as much time (50 minutes and 48 seconds),” said the MRC report from analyst Mike Ciandella.
The May numbers weren’t much different than those in April, when the police conduct story got six times the coverage that stories about ISIS got.
Media Research Center Vice President of Research Brent Baker explains our pick: “A fine example of how the news media advance the agenda of the left. The left want to make police misdeeds a national focus and journalists eagerly make it so at the expense of other worthy topics.”
Rating: Four out of five screams.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
