Network news coverage of President-elect Donald Trump‘s Cabinet choices has been nearly all negative, and, like coyotes on the hunt, the cameras have shifted daily to the weakest nominee.
A new and shocking report from the top conservative media watchdog, the Media Research Center, said the coverage from the news desks at CBS, ABC, and NBC has been 96% negative.
Every nominee was hit with negative statements except one: defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth. But it’s not like he was praised.
“Across all three networks, the coverage of [director of national intelligence pick Tulsi] Gabbard, [FBI designee Kash] Patel, and the handful of other nominees mentioned was entirely negative. Only Pete Hegseth, who received the lion’s share of the airtime, enjoyed a scant four positive evaluative statements, all of which cited his mother describing him as ‘redeemed’ and ‘a changed man,” the study from MRC’s NewsBusters shared with Secrets said.
“To reiterate: The only positive commentary any Trump nominee received on the broadcast networks was from his own mother,” the report added.
The harsh coverage does not match public opinion surveys showing an even split among voters of their approval of the president-elect’s picks. Half of voters are pleased with Trump’s selections, and more approve of his agenda that his Cabinet picks will be in charge of.
NBC has been 100% negative, CBS 96.7% negative, and ABC 91% negative.
Coverage, the report added, followed the nominee the media believed to be the most damaged.
For a while, that has been Hegseth, who was wobbled initially with salacious charges before he found his footing. “The networks abruptly lost interest once his chances of being confirmed started to look more promising,” the report said.
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“This pattern of focus suggests that the broadcast networks were budgeting their coverage of Cabinet appointees based on whose nomination they felt they had the best chance of sinking. When Patel looked relatively safe, they began hammering the various scandals plaguing Hegseth. Then when Hegseth’s odds improved, they immediately lost interest and returned to slamming Patel as a ‘controversial’ and concerning’ pick,” MRC said.
The author of the report, senior research analyst Bill D’Agostino, concluded, “Liberals watching at home can rest assured that the media are doing their part to hamper Trump’s second term.”
