MSNBC Devoting More Coverage To GOP Candidates Than CNN Or Fox News

In every presidential campaign, the ultimate goal for second-tier candidates is to get media attention. Sometimes they make headlines for starting feuds with high-profile media personalities or offering controversial, out-of-the-mainstream remarks. Sometimes all you need to do is merely hint you’ll run (see: Trump, Donald) and you’ll get a lot of media coverage.

In the past two months, the coverage of ten current (and potential) GOP candidates has been relatively constant and self-fulfilling, in that the media’s declared frontrunners have garnered the most coverage, and the “longshot” candidates have been covered far less. There have been occasional spikes for some candidates, including ones whose popularity soared overnight, but on the whole, all three cable news networks have been covering the Republican candidates in roughly the same proportions.

The data on the following chart has been gathered from the media monitoring site TVEyes. The totals have been calculated from adding up all mentions from the past two months, May 28 to July 28, and separated by network.

As you can see, leading the pack is Mitt Romney, who is continuing to show his strong lead in the latest 2012 primary polls. Romney, unlike most of his fellow Republicans, has not had his campaign engulfed in any scandals, no high-profile staffers have left his campaign, and so far he has not made many controversial remarks or gaffes. And yet, Romney has consistently remained at the top of the pack since May. The exception is Fox News, where Sarah Palin was the most covered candidate, but when you factor in her present role as a contributor for the network and the small margin between her and Romney in total coverage, it can safely be assumed that Romney has been garnering the most news coverage from the network.

Contrast Romney’s news coverage with coverage of Rick Santorum and Herman Cain, the least covered candidates of the ten on our list. Santorum recently got some headlines when he finally tore into columnist Dan Savage (for obvious reasons) after what must have been years of pent-up frustration. Savage responded in a Funny or Die video threatening to give “Rick” the same kind of disgusting definition he gave “Santorum.” However, his campaign has not received the kind of media attention he would hope for, even after he signed the controversial “marriage pledge.”

Meanwhile, Herman Cain has gotten very little coverage, which might be more remarkable in his case than Santorum’s because of how much attention his campaign has received in the past few months over a series of continued controversies. Cain-centric stories include:

• His comments that “homosexuality is a sin” during a CBS News interview.
• His controversial remarks about Muslims that have ranged from his promise to not appoint any to his cabinet to his support of communities trying to ban mosques to his apology yesterday for the latter.
• His pledge to not sign any legislation over three pages long and his subsequent claim that it was intended to be an exaggeration.
• His brief controversy with Jon Stewart, and Fox News’ almost obsessive coverage of Stewart putting on a seemingly racist accent during his segment about the candidate.

The list goes on. While Cain is not necessarily the most popular or newsworthy presidential contender, Gallup has consistently ranked him as the candidate with the highest “positive intensity,” a metric calculated from name recognition, strong ballot support, and strong opposition. Cain is a candidate who excites the Republican base but does not necessarily have much to offer news-wise. Of the three cable networks, Cain has been covered the most on Fox News. A recent Media Matters report highlights that of the currently-declared candidates, Cain has gotten more airtime than any of the other candidates on Fox News since June 1.

However, the more interesting story here is that of all three major cable news networks, MSNBC has dedicated more coverage to the Republican presidential candidates than Fox News and CNN. When you calculate the total mentions of each Republican candidate on all three networks, MSNBC’s network coverage comprises roughly 44% of the total coverage. There has certainly been much interest in the race over at MSNBC, and many a powerful debate has filled segment after segment on the network. Obviously, MSNBC coverage of Republican candidates has been… less than kind.

Almost none of the GOP candidates have appeared on MSNBC in the past few months, which makes their coverage of the candidates all the more interesting when you consider their appearances on CNN and Fox News. Tim Pawlenty and Ron Paul have made occasional appearances on the network, but the rest of the candidates have not set foot on MSNBC territory since the unofficial beginning of the campaign.

One significant example of a shift in MSNBC coverage is the network’s reporting of Donald Trump after he announced he was no longer running for president. However, we’ve included him in this list because 1) he has a formidable media presence (especially on Fox News, where he now has a weekly segment on Fox & Friends, and 2) he has continued to hint since May that he has not officially, positively, 100% ruled out that he might consider the possibility of perhaps entering the presidential race again maybe. You’ll recall there was a LOT of coverage of Trump’s non-campaign campaign on MSNBC (particularly from Lawrence O’Donnell), but since May his coverage on the network has significantly dropped. Trump has continued to make headlines not just for his Fox News appearances, but for his frequent YouTube videos where the Donald sounds off on everything from the debt ceiling debate to “psycho” Anthony Weiner. Trump is still enough of a media figure to warrant mild coverage on the networks, but his numbers outrank those of actual candidates. (On CNN and Fox News, Trump has gotten more total coverage than Tim Pawlenty.)

Coverage of Sarah Palin from Fox News and CNN is of particular interest because of how much attention a non-candidate is getting. Palin has gotten headlines in the past few weeks for the premiere of her new documentary and for a recent cover story on Newsweek. But other than that, nothing has been particularly newsworthy about the former Alaska governor in the past few months.

But with very few exceptions, the coverage on the three cable networks has stayed relatively the same. Obviously, there are candidates currently running we left out of the race, but as of yet cable coverage of Gary Johnson, Thaddeus McCotter, and Buddy Roemer is practically negligible. And as more candidates prepare to announce, the race could certainly undergo a big shakeup and coverage could change drastically. Because if Rick Perry and Sarah Palin can attract impressive coverage when they’re not running for president, imagine the shift in coverage when they DO run.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.