by Ireland Owens
North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer demanded in a Thursday letter that corporate media networks answer for their “biased” coverage of the presidential election.
The Republican’s letter, obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation, was addressed to top network executives at Fox, CBS, Disney and NBCUniversal. Cramer’s letter called out the networks for biased coverage of President-elect Donald Trump.
“Eight years ago, I sent a letter to your predecessors on behalf of concerned citizens nationwide, addressing the blatant media bias observed during the 2016 Presidential Election,” Cramer wrote. “To date, none of your perspective networks have responded. Following the 2024 Presidential Election, I find myself compelled to write once more — this time with even greater urgency.”
There have been various examples of apparent media bias in the past few years, such as when journalists Linsey Davis and David Muir faced criticism after they moderated the ABC News presidential debate between Trump and Harris on Sept. 10, as many viewers felt like it was unfairly rigged against Trump.
“Unfortunately, the concerns expressed in my 2016 letter have not only gone unaddressed but have worsened,” Cramer added. “Public confidence in your national news operations and programming has plummeted to unprecedented levels. Last month, a Gallup survey revealed the public’s trust in mass media has hit an all-time low, with only 31 percent of Americans expressing confidence in media integrity, and a mere 12 percent of Republicans maintaining any trust in the fairness of national news coverage.”
Americans’ trust in the mass media was at a record low ahead of the election, according to a Gallup survey published Oct. 14. Around 36 percent of those surveyed said that they have “no trust at all” in the mass media, while only 31 percent expressed a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence and 33 percent expressed “not very much” confidence, according to the survey.
Cramer’s letter demanded answers from the executives regarding how they would address concerns of partisan bias in their networks, and also asked about what hiring practices the networks had in place to promote fair journalism.
Media coverage of the 2024 presidential election by national broadcast networks was the “most lopsided in history,” according to an Oct. 28 report published by Media Research Center’s NewsBusters. Cramer cited the report in his letter, mentioning how in July, several major networks including ABC, CBS and NBC gave Vice President Kamala Harris 78 percent positive coverage, compared to Trump’s 85 percent negative coverage.
“The editorial slant of your national news programming not only betrays the trust of Americans, but also undermines the exceptional work of local affiliates,” Cramer wrote. “These affiliates, especially those serving rural communities, work tirelessly to provide fair and valuable reporting, but their credibility is eroded by association with biased national coverage.”
– – –
Ireland Owens is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore CC2.0.
