In the weeks immediately after the first Republican presidential primary debate on Aug. 6, Donald Trump has received almost three times the network TV news coverage than all the other GOP candidates combined, according to a recent study.
The study, conducted by the conservative Media Research Center, found that from Aug. 7-20, the nightly newscasts of ABC, CBS and NBC devoted almost 70 minutes of airtime to Trump, whereas the other 16 candidates received less than 28 minutes between all of them.
Trump even received more coverage than Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, even as news broke during that time that the FBI was investigating the private email server she used to conduct government business as secretary of state.
The networks were also covering Trump more before the debate, the study said. He got 55 percent of airtime out of all the GOP candidates. After the debate, the study said, Trump owned 72 percent of all coverage of the Republican field.
The vast field of Republican candidates was upended when Trump declared his own run for the White House in June. Since then, due to Trump’s unpredictable public statements and his controversial position on immigration, his rivals have struggled to garner attention from the press.
For Trump, winning the press has meant winning the polls. He is currently leading the GOP field in national polls.
“Ideally, reporters are the eyes and ears of primary voters who can’t get out and meet the candidates themselves,” said a statement Tuesday by Rich Noyes, research director of the Media Research Center. “When the networks spend nearly all of their time on just one candidate, they’re robbing viewers of a chance to learn about their other choices. So, instead of a genuine debate between various stripes of conservatives, all Republican voters are getting to see this year is the Donald Trump show. It may or may not be good for ratings, but it’s lousy preparation for a meaningful election.”
