The Big Three have made it a habit to censor news in the economy and stock market if it even has the slightest chance of making President Donald Trump look good.
BBC noted that Trump’s “2020 pitch is to bring back the economy” and “boost jobs.” It makes sense then that ABC, CBS and NBC, would repeatedly censor coverage of good news in the economy and stock market during their evening news shows — particularly if it means undercutting Trump’s key selling point to the American people.
The MRC compiled a list of 13 instances between June and September where ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News have censored the news.
Whether you’re someone with a 401K or IRA looking to see how market performance is affecting your retirement, someone looking to see if now is the right time to buy or sell a house, or someone who’s simply concerned about the state of the economy, the Big Three have kept their viewers in the dark if the news doesn’t fit their anti-Trump narrative.
- July 1, 2020: Upward revision in May jobs numbers: 5.825 million higher than the original estimate.
Don’t trust The Big Three to report how the jobs market is doing fairly. Along with news July 1, that private payrolls rose “by 2.369 million in June, a bit below the 2.5 million estimate from economists surveyed by Dow Jones,” ADP Research Institute and Moody's Analytics dropped an eye-popping new employment report. According to CNBC's summary of the report: “May's number saw a stunning revision, going from an initially reported loss of 2.76 million to a gain of 3.065 million.” [Emphasis added.]
Issues & Insights reported on this news, saying, that’s “more than 5 million people returning to work in just two months.”
Not even people returning to work at a rate that smashed above original estimations was enough for the Big Three networks to cover it fairly. All three networks ignored the story.
- August 18, 2020: S&P 500 broke record to erase 2020 losses and NASDAQ notched another record high close.
The S&P 500 closed at 3,389.78 August 18, breaking a record set at its February peak (3,386.15). It eliminated all of its losses taken from the pandemic-induced shutdown in the months after. The Wall Street Journal reported that “[w]ith just 126 trading days between peaks, the index makes its fastest-ever recovery from a bear market.” [Emphasis added.] Fox Business reported that this was the “129th record close under President Trump.”
In addition, The Big Tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite stock index also rose 0.73 percent to close at 11,210.84 August 18, setting another record high of its own.
The Big Three, with impunity, ignored reporting any of this news.
The S&P 500’s recovery, as displayed by a graph shown in USA Today’s reporting on the news, was V-shaped.
Instead of covering this positive market news, ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, and NBC Nightly News instead chose to do political PR for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s wife Jill, boosting her image prior to her speech before the virtual Democratic National Convention.
- August 6, 2020: NASDAQ closed above 11K for the first time in its history.
A thousand points after it closed above 10,000 for the first time in its history, the NASDAQ’s unbelievable performance was not worth any coverage by the Big Three.
The index had closed at a record 11,108.07 August 6, well over the historic 11,000 milestone. CNBC reported that this was the NASDAQ’s “seventh straight gain” at the time.
ABC World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News did find room in their August 6, reporting to express outrage at Trump for “seizing” on Biden’s latest racial gaffe, though. In an interview, Biden stated: “What you all know, but most people don't know, unlike the African-American community with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things.”
- August 24, 2020: S&P 500 closed above 3,400 for the first time in history.
It was bad enough that the Big Three ignored the S&P 500 stock index erasing all of its losses for 2020 caused by the pandemic, but all three networks decided to engage in adding insult to injury anyway.
On August 24, the S&P 500 closed above the 3,400 mark for the first time in history (3,431.28), according to CNBC. CNBC cited Fundstrat Global Advisors Head of Research Tom Lee concerning the coronavirus and the stock market: “‘The US is soon becoming one of the safest places in the World. And if this is true, capital will also want to seek the US,’ which means ‘stocks rise further,’ Lee said.”
The Big Three didn’t cover the S&P 500’s historic close.
- June 30, 2020: U.S. stocks had “best quarter” in 20-plus years, despite virus spike.
At the end of June, in the face of a coronavirus virus case surge, U.S. stocks “wrapped up their best quarter in more than 20 years,” and there was nothing but crickets from The Big Three.
The Wall Street Journal reported that this was a “remarkable rally after the coronavirus pandemic brought business around the world to a virtual standstill.”
- July 22, 2020: Existing home sales had the highest monthly gain on record.
Sales of previously owned homes "rose 20.7% in June over the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.72 million, according to data from the National Association of Realtors,” reported The Wall Street Journal. This, according to The Journal, was “the biggest monthly increase on record going back to 1968.” [Emphasis added.]
CNBC noted that the increase in existing home sales for June was a whopping 21 percent.
The “biggest monthly increase on record going back to 1968” should be newsworthy, but not for the anti-Trump standards of the Big Three. All three networks censored that story.
- August 25, 2020: New home sales leaped to “highest level” since December 2006.
More excellent news in the housing market, more excellent news that gets bypassed by the Big Three’s ignorance.
Markets Insider reported August 25, that U.S. new home sales “soared 13.9% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 901,000 units, the highest level since December 2006, according to a Tuesday release from the US Census Bureau.” [Emphasis added.]
According to MI, “The median sales price jumped 7.2% from the year-ago period to $330,600.”
The outlet attributed this stunning housing market performance to Americans taking “advantage of historically low interest rates.”
But, if you’re a consumer who would typically get this kind of information from the Big Three, you didn’t know about it.
- July 13, 2020: Homebuilders had the strongest June sales since 2005.
There’s no denying it: The housing market has been hot, but not hot enough for news coverage. CNBC reported July 13 that “sales of newly built homes jumped “55% annually in June,” in a story headlined: “Homebuilders just saw the strongest June sales since the last housing boom, as pandemic pushes more buyers to the suburbs.”
Citing a survey by John Burns Real Estate Consulting, CNBC noted then that it was “also the highest pace of sales growth since the height of the unprecedented housing boom in 2005.” [Emphasis added.]
The Big Three didn’t cover this news.
CBS Evening News, in particular, did find the time during its July 13 coverage to boast how states “inundated with infections” were moving over to former Vice President Joe Biden’s camp in the 2020 presidential election.
- June 10, 2020: NASDAQ closed over the historic 10K milestone.
A 1,000 points prior to its close above 11,000, the NASDAQ experienced another huge chunk of news The Big Three chose to ignore. The NASDAQ closed over 10,000 for the first time in its history on June 10.
Nasdaq said this was a “historic milestone for the tech-dominant index that demonstrates economic resiliency and growth amid a pandemic.” Specifically, the index closed at 10,020.35, “powered by gains in large-cap tech stocks, many of which have enabled people to live and work remotely during lockdown measures.”
When this news broke, Nasdaq noted that the index had “increased about 12%, outpacing the S&P 500’s 1% decline, as the tech sector has performed well.”
The Big Three didn’t think this was worth any coverage.
- July 17, 2020: Investment banks had their best quarter in modern history.
For investors, seeing how your shares in investment banks are performing in a pandemic-stricken economy is crucial, but don’t look to The Big Three if you were looking for any good updates on this.
Bloomberg News reported July 17, that Wall Street’s five biggest investment banks disclosed “$45 billion in revenue from trading and dealmaking units, marking those businesses’ best quarter in modern history.,”
Forty-five billion in record revenues in an economy that was shut down is pretty remarkable, but not remarkable enough for the Big Three to cover it on their July 17, evening news broadcasts.
- August 26, 2020: U.S. durable goods sales destroyed expectations in July.
The sales of U.S. durable goods saw an incredible spike in the month of July. Barron’s Magazine reported August 26, that “[a] spike in demand for transportation equipment sent US durable goods orders blowing past expectations with an 11.2 percent gain in July.” Fox Business said that this result outpaced “the 4.3% increase that analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting.” [Emphasis added.] That’s a 6.9 percentage point disparity.
Specifically, “[i]t was the third consecutive monthly gain in demand for big-ticket manufactured products, with orders up to $230.7 billion in July following June's upwardly revised 7.7 percent climb,” Barron’s noted. “Motor vehicles and parts formed the majority of that gain, with new orders up 21.9 percent, while defense aircraft and parts, a smaller component of transportation, jumped 77.1 percent.”
Guess what, the Big Three ignored this story.
- September 1, 2020: U.S. manufacturing rises at the “fastest rate in nearly 2 years.”
Looking for coverage on good news in U.S. manufacturing by the Big Three? Don’t hold your breath.
Business Insider reported September 1, that U.S. manufacturing grew at the “fastest rate in nearly 2 years, backing up hopes for V-shaped rebound” in August. This was based on a new Tuesday report released by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).
The Insider noted that ISM’s purchasing managers' index (PMI) “gained to 56 last month from 54.2.” To put that into perspective, “[e]conomists surveyed by Bloomberg expected a reading of 54.8.” But that’s not all.
According to the Insider, “[t]he firm's New Orders Index climbed to 67.6 from 61.5, its highest point in more than 16 years." [Emphasis added.]
Like a bad joke, the Big Three didn’t report this story at all last night.
- July 22, 2020: Dow Jones smashed above 27,000.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average’s recovery in the pandemic has also been exceptional given the circumstances. When the Dow closed above the 27,000 mark July 22 to put it “within striking distance of erasing its losses for the year” at the time, the Big Three ignored it.
To put this into perspective, consider when the Dow dropped 1,000 points beneath 25,000 before rallying a bit later Feb. 28 to cap off Wall Street’s “worst week since the [2008] financial crisis.” On that day, the Big Three gave the negative market news a whopping 313 seconds of coverage collectively — or more than five minutes.
That’s 313 seconds for negative news versus 0 seconds for positive news.
It’s become clear that the ABC, CBS and NBC evening news shows are against America’s recovery in the stock market and the economy. It’s time their viewers hold each of them accountable for this.
Contact ABC News (818-460-7477), CBS News (212-975-3247) and NBC News (212- 664-6192) and hold them to account for ignoring good economic news and censoring the market rally!
MRC News Analyst Nicholas Fondacaro contributed to this study.
