Network Newscasts Were All-Trump, All The Time In 2015

[Commentary] Donald Trump didn't announce his candidacy until mid-June of 2015, but still managed to be covered as the second biggest news story for all of 2015 on the network evening newscasts. Between ABC's World News Tonight, the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News, Trump's campaign captured 327 minutes of airtime, according to television news analyst Andrew Tyndall (ABC: 121, CBS: 84, NBC: 122 minutes, respectively). That figure doesn't include the network newscasts' coverage of the Republican debates, which garnered an additional 123 minutes of airtime.

Context: ABC's evening news broadcast produced almost as much Trump coverage in 2015 as it did for the Ebola panic in 2014. How does Trump's 327 minutes compare to other candidates this year and to coverage for previous campaign cycles? Trump's figure is off the charts. Over the last decade, the networks' evening newscasts have never showered a presidential campaign with the kind of attention they gave Trump one year before the White House vote even takes place. More context: Trump received 327 minutes of evening network airtime one year before the general election campaign. In 2012, during the general election campaign, President Obama's re-election run garnered just 157 minutes of airtime.