Network coverage of former President Trump has been overwhelmingly negative since the second assassination attempt against him Sunday, according to one report.
Analysts at the Media Research Center (MRC) reviewed 69 minutes of campaign coverage on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts between September 15 and September 17.
MRC reported that although the thwarted assassination attempt took up 70% of all campaign news on the networks, a significant amount of that coverage was negative towards Trump.
"Over the three nights, we tallied 21 evaluative comments about the GOP candidate, 20 of which were negative, which computes to a 95% negative spin score," the MRC reported.
NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt drew a connection between Trump's rhetoric and the attempted violence against him just hours after a suspected gunman was spotted.
"Today’s apparent assassination attempt comes amid increasingly fierce rhetoric on the campaign trail itself. Mr. Trump [and] his running mate JD Vance continued to make baseless claims about Haitian immigrants in Ohio," Hold said Sunday.
The town of Springfield, Ohio, was put in the spotlight after viral claims of pets being stolen and eaten by Haitian migrants, which officials have vehemently denied, were amplified by Trump during last week's presidential debate.
Meanwhile, Trump and his allies have slammed Democrats, arguing their extreme rhetoric is encouraging violence against the former commander-in-chief.
The MRC noted that on CBS’s Monday night newscast, anchor Norah O’Donnell rejected Trump's argument and put the onus on him.
"Donald Trump is blaming Democrats for inflaming political rhetoric, but the former president’s own words seem to be increasing the threat of political violence in Springfield, Ohio. That’s where a false and ugly accusation against Haitians, thousands of whom are legal permanent residents, is impacting everyday life," she said.
According to the MRC, NBC reporter Garrett Haake similarly said, "Trump has also used incendiary language against Democrats, and authorities have not yet revealed a motive in either incident."
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"These networks gave relatively little time to the accusation that these attempted shootings might have been influenced by Democratic rhetoric painting Trump as an existential threat," the MRC said.
"Out of 48 minutes of coverage of the attempted shooting, the three networks spent less than two minutes (1 minute, 53 seconds) on the possibility that Democrats could share the blame."
The incident comes approximately two months after an assassination attempt on Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
