Evening newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC gave President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans far more negative coverage than Democrats in the weeks before the 2026 midterm elections, according to a Media Research Center analysis cited in an opinion column by Tim Graham. The study measured coverage from Sept. 28 to Oct. 26 and found that Trump and the Republicans received almost 57 minutes of negative treatment on the evening news, while Democrats received almost 19 minutes, a ratio of roughly three to one.
Graham argues that the imbalance goes beyond the volume of bad news. He writes that the broadcast networks should not avoid negative stories, since audiences generally distrust overly upbeat reporting, but that the overall tone of coverage casts the networks as participants in the political fight rather than neutral observers. He describes the networks as « throwing beanballs » at Republicans instead of calling balls and strikes, a characterization that reflects his own view rather than an established finding.
The column also points to earlier campaign data from the same research group. In its study of the 2024 race, covering July 21 through Oct. 25, the Media Research Center found that ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts gave Trump 85 percent negative coverage, while Democratic nominee Kamala Harris received 78 percent positive coverage. Graham cites these figures to argue that the pattern is recurring rather than isolated, and he says the networks devoted much of their 2021 attention to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was rigged, amounting to about 47 minutes of coverage.
Graham extends his critique to PBS. He says that from Sept. 1 to Sept. 30, the PBS News Hour gave Republicans 94 percent negative coverage and 6 percent positive, while Democrats received 53 percent negative and 47 percent positive coverage. These figures, drawn from the same research organization, form the basis of his claim that public broadcasting also tilted its treatment of the two parties.
The column also addresses how the networks handled Democratic-related stories. Graham notes that negative news for Democrats, including an immigration enforcement action at the home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., was framed against the Trump administration, and he says these results were gathered before a new controversy involving Sen. Dan Sullivan in Alaska. He argues that coverage of Democratic policy agendas, including the economy and oversight hearings on subjects such as President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen and his mental fitness, received comparatively little attention.
Graham also criticizes the networks’ handling of Trump’s campaign appearances. He writes that rallies in red states were presented as evidence of Republican anxiety, that Trump’s decision to cancel rallies in the final days of the race drew negative attention, and that his shift to tele-rallies from Mar-a-Lago was also framed unfavorably. He cites an ABC report in which Trump lashed out at a reporter who asked whether he was tired of traveling. By contrast, he notes that appearances by former President Barack Obama in Michigan and Ohio were described by a PBS reporter as rallying Democratic voters.
The column is an opinion piece, and its conclusions rest on the author’s interpretation of the Media Research Center data and of news coverage. The figures themselves come from a study by a conservative-leaning media watchdog, and the networks have not responded in the source material. Graham’s argument, that the tone of coverage shapes how viewers understand the political landscape, is presented as his assessment.