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According to a fresh study from the Media Research Center, the evening news broadcasts on ABC, CBS, and NBC have been noticeably leaning towards the Democrats while discussing the 2025 government shutdown.
The watchdog group took a deep dive into episodes of “World News Tonight,” “NBC Nightly News,” and “CBS Evening News” aired from October 1-31. They found that these networks were quick to criticize both congressional Republicans and President Trump, while mainly letting Democrats off the hook for the significant logjam in Washington.
The study found that an astonishing 87% of the coverage across these broadcasts put Democrats in a positive light compared to Republicans, as reported by Bill D’Agostino, a senior analyst at the MRC.
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“Out of the 67 segments that reported on the shutdown, a whopping 87% steered towards favoring Democrats,” D’Agostino stated. He noted there were 83 moments where anchors or reporters had words of criticism for Republicans, while just 12 statements directed disapproval at Democrats.
The analysis also highlighted that only a mere 12 of those 67 reports acknowledged that Senate Democrats had opted out of voting for a straightforward continuing resolution, and none of the reports pointed out that Democrats had previously voted in March to strip Obamacare subsidies.
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Moreover, D’Agostino mentioned that the overall coverage failed to satisfactorily explain how the shutdown started. There were few mentions indicating that Senate Democrats had repeatedly opposed a continuing resolution. On ABC and CBS, only about 12.5% of stories shared this essential point, while it was brought up in just 31% of NBC’s newscasts.
During the reports, there were often phrases about the Trump administration “putting pressure on Democrats” or soundbites of Republicans insisting that the Democrats should “fund the government.” Still, few actually pointed out that it was Senate Democrats blocking the necessary funding legislation, added D’Agostino. “There were numerous occasions where reporters attempted to rationalize Democrats’ expectations without emphasizing that those expectations were the crux of the funding problems.”
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The MRC findings also showed that ABC, NBC, and CBS often mingled common Democratic slogans with their own unbiased reporting.
<p“For instance, we noted a dozen instances where statements about House Speaker Mike Johnson not calling the House back into session were framed as a key reason for the shutdown—just like many congressional Democrats argue,” D'Agostino explained.
“Republicans, however, didn’t enjoy the same positive spin; there wasn’t one instance of journalists on these networks echoing the Republicans’ claim that Senate Democrats earlier supported a continuing resolution that included similar cuts to the healthcare subsidies currently causing the shutdown,” he continued.
As of now, ABC News, NBC News, and CBS News have not responded to requests for comments from Fox News Digital.
After weeks of negotiations, Republicans have been advocating for a short-term extension of the fiscal year 2025 federal funding levels, preparing a continuing resolution (CR) that aims to give Congress some breathing room until November 21 to finalize fiscal year 2026 spending.
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The proposed measure mainly avoids unrelated political matters, aside from added enhancements for security funding meant for lawmakers, the White House, and the Supreme Court.
On the other side, Democrats have made it clear they will reject any federal funding proposal that doesn’t include aspect of continuancy regarding enhanced Obamacare subsidies that expire at the end of 2025. These enhanced subsidies were enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and most Republicans indicate that they believe they are no longer necessary.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., along with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have expressed a willingness to discuss revamping those subsidies; nonetheless, they are against merging this topic with the overall federal funding discussions.
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Contribution by Elizabeth Elkind from Fox News Digital.
For more information, see the original source:Study Reveals Pro-Democrat Bias in Coverage of Government Shutdown by ABC, NBC, CBS
