ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscast coverage of Trump’s Cabinet picks ‘almost uniformly negative,’ study finds

FIRST ON FOX – Flagship evening newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC have been "almost uniformly negative" when covering some of President-elect Donald Trump’s most significant Cabinet appointees, according to a new study from the Media Research Center. 

The MRC examined all coverage of Trump’s Cabinet appointees on ABC’s "World News Tonight," "CBS Evening News" and NBC’s "Nightly News" from December 1-14. The study primarily focused on Trump’s Defense Secretary pick Pete Hegseth, FBI Director selection Kash Patel and Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard, though it also included the other appointments.

Trump’s nominees earned a combined total of 60 minutes and 47 seconds of coverage during the 2-week period. The conservative media watchdog group found that 96% of the coverage was negative. 

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"Across all three networks, the coverage of Gabbard, 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,’" MRC senior research analyst Bill D’Agostino wrote.

"To reiterate: the only positive commentary any Trump nominee received on the broadcast networks was from his own mother," D’Agostino added. "In addition to a whopping 96 percent negative tilt across their flagship evening newscasts, these networks also appear to have paid the most attention to Cabinet nominees who appeared to have the highest chances of sinking."

CBS spent the most time on Trump’s nominees overall, spending nearly 25 minutes on them with over 14 minutes focusing on Hegseth.

"While CBS had the most negative overall coverage of the Trump transition (96.7%), they actually were softer on Hegseth than their counterparts: 88 percent negative, making them the only network of the three not to cross the 90 percent negative barrier," D’Agostino wrote. 

The second-most transition coverage came from NBC, which was negative 94.7% of the 21 minutes and three seconds spent on Trump’s selections. NBC spent over 11 minutes on Hegseth alone and was the only network to have 100% negative coverage of him, according to the MRC. 

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ABC spent 19 minutes and 25 seconds on Trump’s nominees, 90% of which was negative, the study found. 

"The network devoted 13 minutes and 33 seconds of that time to Hegseth, with a 91% negative slant," D’Agostino wrote.

Patel was the only other nominee besides Hegseth to receive more than a full minute of coverage from the trio of networks. 

"Evaluative statements about Patel across all three networks were uniformly negative," D’Agostino wrote.

The MRC also found that "the majority of the reports about Hegseth centered around the handful of salacious allegations against him," but the networks "abruptly lost interest once his chances of being confirmed started to look more promising."

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, considered a pivotal vote in the confirmation battle over Hegseth, initially appeared skeptical but expressed willingness to give him a fair shake on Dec. 9.

"Incidentally Hegseth received 37 of his total 39 minutes of coverage from the three broadcast networks on or before December 10. In other words, once his confirmation appeared probable, the broadcast networks abruptly lost interest in the scandals with which they had inundated their airwaves for the previous week and a half," D’Agostino wrote.

Patel was elected on November 30 and "dominated the evening newscasts with a combined 18 minutes of immensely negative coverage" the following evening, according to the MRC.

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"But when key Republican Senators who had expressed uncertainty about other nominees publicly indicated that they would support Patel’s confirmation, he quickly became an afterthought," D’Agostino wrote.

"Then like clockwork, on December 11 — the day after Hegseth received that much-needed public support — Patel was back to being the most interesting Cabinet appointee, earning 193 seconds of airtime that evening, compared to just 21 seconds for Hegseth," D’Agostino added. "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."

MRC founder and president Brent Bozell blasted the coverage as "appalling." 

"This is as predictable as it is appalling. It is simply indefensible. But America is seeing through this agenda. And then the media wonder why their numbers are tanking," Bozell told Fox News Digital. 

"These radicals' agenda to undermine and damage - no, destroy - a president-elect, verges on the anti-American," Bozell added. "It's 2016 all over again. Donald Trump won the presidency and immediately the radical media are out to sabotage him."