Melania Trump’s allegedly plagiarized speech at the Republican National Convention on Monday might be the only thing that happened, if you listened to television news. Networks covered Melania Trump’s speech and its similarity to Michelle Obama’s from 2008 for 130 minutes from 7am until 9am, Newsbusters reported.
Newsbusters studied ABC, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News Channel during the time all networks provide live coverage. The 130 minutes amounts to nearly a third of that airtime. CNN’s New Day was the worst offender, devoting 44 minutes and 25 seconds while MSNBC’s Morning Joe devoted 41 minutes and 4 seconds. This was just during that two hour time span.
The speech was hardly the only one of the night. Pat Smith spoke earlier in the evening about her son, Sean, who died in the Benghazi attack. Her speech had much of the audience in tears. Four of the networks including ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox News Channel spent a combined 1 minute, 48 seconds of coverage. MSNBC only addressed Smith’s speech during the 6am hour of Morning Joe. On CNN’s New Day, Chris Cuomo spent almost 2 minutes doubting that Donald Trump saw her speech and liked it, but no time on the substance.
MSNBC discussed Smith’s speech the night before, with Chris Matthews gaining attention for saying it was “wrong” to have her speak at the convention and that she “ruined the evening.” His criticism of Smith and the speaking choice also came with a defense for Hillary Clinton.
“I don’t care what that woman up there, the mother, has felt. Her emotions are her own. But for the country in choosing a leader, it’s wrong to have someone get up there and tell a lie about Hillary Clinton. It’s not true. It’s logically not true. I think it’s wrong that they ruined their evening with this,” Matthews said.
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04.20.2024