GOP frontrunner Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from coming into the United States dominated the media coverage since Monday instead of President Obama’s address from the Oval Office on combatting ISIS Sunday night, according to the Media Research Center.
“The morning and evening news broadcasts on ABC, CBS and NBC have dedicated a whopping 105 minutes (1 hour and 45 minutes) to criticism of Trump’s comments about restricting Muslim immigration, since Trump made the comments on December 7,” reported Media Research Center’s Mike Ciandella. In contrast, Obama’s speech Sunday evening only recieved a total of three minutes of media coverage.
According to the study, NBC dedicated the most time to covering Trump’s comments, followed by ABC and then CBS.
The Media Research Center reports that most of the media coverage surrounding Trump’s proposal was negative:
On NBC Nightly News on December 8, former anchor Tom Brokaw declared that Trump’s proposed ban of all Muslims is “more, much more, than a shouted campaign provocation” but rather “is a dangerous proposal that overrides history, the law, and the foundation of America itself.”
NBC’s Today on December 9 ran clips of White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest calling out Trump for his “outright lies” and “fake hair.” On CBS This Morning, co-host Charlie Rose speculated that Trump’s rhetoric could “turn some Muslims who were prepared to give information against us.”
On ABC’s Good Morning America, correspondent Matt Gutman cited the terror-friendly Council on American-Islamic Relations to credit Trump’s comments with a “spike in anti-Muslim incidents” in the United States.
Although the media spent an enormous amount of time criticizing Trump’s comments, a new poll found that 65 percent of GOP primary voters support Trump’s proposed Muslim immigration ban.