Fox News Has Provided Over 13 TIMES the Coverage to Kyle Rittenhouse Trial Than That of Ahmaud Arbery

The disparity in cable news coverage of the Kyle Rittenhouse and Ahmaud Arbery trials is in many ways predictable. They are very different stories that took very different roles in our political and societal realms. The disparity in coverage within each network, however, is revealing, particularly when it comes to Fox News, the highest-rated cable network, but a very wide margin.

The Kyle Rittenhouse trial captivated the nation’s attention, in part because it was a fascinating legal discussion between self-defense as a legal defense, and the role of vigilante justice amid riots following America’s racial reckoning of 2020. Rittenhouse’s actions in August of 2020 became a wedge issue in the last general election and was even featured in a regrettable Biden campaign ad that portrayed him as a “White Supremacist.”

On the other hand, Ahmaud Arbery’s case seems much less complicated, and perhaps clearer cut. Three white individuals chased down Arbery and eventually shot and killed him because they claimed they were making a “citizen’s arrest.” There are clear racial elements to the case, which have only been supported by a defense attorney grossly characterizing Arbery’s “long, dirty toenails.”

So it’s not at all surprising that all cable networks have spent more time covering Kyle Rittenhouse than Ahmaud Arbery. What IS surprising is how little coverage that Fox News has given Arbery in comparison.

TVEyes is a transcript database service that allows for easy searching by terms. It is not an exact science, but the number of times that the names “Rittenhouse” and “Arbery” have been mentioned in the past four weeks is revealing. CNN mentioned Rittenhouse 922 times, Arbery 577 times. MSNBC, at that same time, mentioned Rittenhouse 718 times, and Arbery 387.

Fox News has provided much greater coverage to Rittenhouse, mentioning him 1,171 times. However, Arbery has been mentioned only 88 times over the past four weeks. That’s 1,300% more mentions of Rittenhouse compared to Arbery. Or in layman’s terms, a “lot.”

Further, a cursory search of mentions shows that the vast majority have appeared during daypart “news” programming, with hardly any mentions on opinion programs of prime time and its morning show, Fox & Friends. 

Given the current landscape of cable news programming, this is the sort of story that is impossibly noteworthy and not at all surprising all at once. One can easily infer that Ahmaud Arbery story is deemed less interesting to Fox News viewers according to Fox News programmers and showrunners. (The reason why the Arbery case is adjudged less interesting to Fox News is a column for another day.)

The manner in which the Arbery story is covered on Fox News is also revealing. While the other nets were going all-in on the defense attorney’s toenails, Fox & Friends found another angle to focus on in this story: New Black Panthers taking arms outside of the courthouse where the Arbery trial was taking place.

Why is this a big deal? Well, it’s not … unless you think it is. But in the month of October, more cable news viewers tuned into Fox News than tuned into CNN and MSNBC combined. Despite the ongoing narrative in conservative circles that “mainstream media” has a liberal bias — a claim which is not without merit! — its high time that we recognize that Fox News IS mainstream media, and far more influential than its cable news competitors.