Despite a second alleged assassination attempt, former President Trump's rally in Long Island was met with overwhelmingly negative coverage from major news networks, according to a recent report by the Media Research Center.
Former President Trump's highly anticipated rally in Long Island was marred by negative media coverage following the second alleged assassination attempt against him just days prior. A report by the Media Research Center (MRC) revealed that the majority of network news coverage since the incident has been highly critical of Trump.
Analysts at the MRC reviewed 69 minutes of campaign coverage on ABC, CBS, and NBC evening newscasts between September 15 and September 17. They found that despite the thwarted assassination attempt taking up 70% of all campaign news on the networks, a significant portion of that coverage was negative towards Trump.
Trump's New York Rally Overshadowed by Negative Media Coverage
"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.
The negative coverage extended beyond the assassination attempt, with network anchors and reporters drawing connections between Trump's rhetoric and the threats against him.
Trump's New York Rally Overshadowed by Negative Media Coverage
NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt stated, "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."
CBS anchor Norah O'Donnell rejected Trump's argument that Democrats were inflaming political rhetoric and placed the onus on the former president himself.
Trump's New York Rally Overshadowed by Negative Media Coverage
"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," she said.
The MRC report also noted that NBC reporter Garrett Haake commented on Trump's incendiary language against Democrats, while authorities had yet to establish a motive in either incident.
Trump's New York Rally Overshadowed by Negative Media Coverage
The negative media coverage stands in contrast to the limited attention given to the possibility of Democrats sharing blame for the threats against Trump.
"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 in Long Island came approximately two months after an assassination attempt on Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Law enforcement arrested Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect in both attempted shootings, in Florida.
