ABC News faces criticism for fact checking Trump more than Harris during debate
‘Fox News @ Night’ panelists examine top moments from the ABC News Presidential Debate (Courtesy: ABC News).
Conservatives say a recent study showing Vice President Kamala Harris receiving significantly more favorable coverage on ABC’s "World News Tonight with David Muir" than former President Trump should have been a clear indicator that Tuesday night’s debate was going to be hostile territory.
ABC News has come under fire after Muir and co-moderator Linsey Davis repeatedly fact-checked Trump while failing to correct Harris even a single time. The ABC moderators have also been urged to issue a correction on their abortion coverage and were scolded for giving Harris a pass on her explanation for recent policy flip-flops.
Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt wrote that the "journalistic reputations of Muir and Davis are the most scarred by the fiasco," but "the damage will extend to both the ABC and Disney brands" because the moderators failed to ask more critical questions of Harris.
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ABC Presidential Debate co-moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis. (ABC News)
Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell said on "The Brent Bozell Show" podcast that Harris had a clear advantage that should have been apparent.
"Whoever recommended that [Trump] do that debate on ABC should be fired. It was about the worst decision that could have been made," Bozell said on Wednesday when discussing what he feels are the Disney-owned network’s biases.
The debate was hardly the first time ABC News has been accused of favoring Democrats over Trump or painting the GOP nominee in a negative light. The network’s daytime gabfest "The View," which falls under the umbrella of ABC’s news division, has been overtly anti-Trump for years and summoned Chelsea Clinton to guest-host on Thursday. The show's hosts were gleeful over the debate, with Whoopi Goldberg calling it a "booty whooping."
ABC’s flagship late-night show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," is also regularly critical of Trump and booked prominent anti-Trump figures Jane Fonda and George Conway as guests following the network’s coverage of the debate. Kimmel even helped with a fundraiser for Biden when he was the nominee earlier this year.
When it comes to the debate moderators, Davis seemingly linked Trump to the Ku Klux Klan by noting during ABC coverage of the Democratic National Convention that the former president was scheduled to appear in the same Michigan town where the KKK held a protest earlier this year.
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Former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris squared off in the ABC Presidential Debate on Tuesday. (Screenshot: Fox News simulcast of ABC News Presidential Debate)
As for Muir, the conservative Media Research Center found prior to the debate that his program, "World News Tonight," has been more "positive towards Harris and the most hostile to Trump" compared to evening newscasts on NBC and CBS.
Bozell’s MRC reviewed 100 campaign stories on ABC’s "World News Tonight" that aired from July 21 when Harris entered the race through September 6.
"Our analysts found 25 clearly positive statements about Harris from reporters, anchors, voters or other non-partisan sources, with zero negative statements — none. That computes to a gravity-defying 100% positive spin score for the Vice President," MRC NewsBusters contributing editor Rich Noyes wrote.
"As for Trump, our analysts found just five clearly positive comments, vs. 66 negative statements, for a dismal 7 percent positive -- 93% negative -- spin score," Noyes continued. "During these same weeks, both the ‘CBS Evening News’ and ‘NBC Nightly News’ also delivered highly positive coverage for Harris, and mostly negative coverage for Trump, yet not as extreme as we found with ABC’s ‘World News Tonight.’"
Notes explained that MRC's measure of good versus bad press omitted partisan comments, "as well as ‘horse race’ assessments about the candidates’ poll standings and prospects." The MRC added "ABC’s reporters and anchors either jumped in to criticize Trump themselves, or broadcast negative comments from non-partisan sources to impart a heavily negative spin to the former President’s coverage."
MRC researchers also pointed to "other ways that ABC’s flagship newscast aided the Democratic nominee" ahead of the presidential debate.
The MRC wrote that "World News Tonight" hasn’t used the word "liberal" to describe Harris, hasn’t spoken to voters who oppose Harris and regularly promotes Trump controversies while "hiding" negative news about Harris.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America also sent a letter to ABC News president Almin Karamehmedovic, along with Muir and Davis, urging the network to issue a correction about a "100% inaccurate" abortion claim made during the debate.
Trump referred to infamous comments made by former Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam in 2019 but was promptly "fact-checked" by Davis. At the time, Northam suggested that in some rare instances of third-trimester abortions, a baby could be born alive and a "discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother" about what to do.
"There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born," Davis sternly responded to Trump at the debate.
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Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America says the ABC moderator was "inaccurate" and should correct the record.
"This is 100% inaccurate. Her statement tragically ignores the reality of babies who survive failed, late-term abortions but are denied basic medical care and left to die," Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America president Marjorie Dannenfelser wrote in a letter to ABC bigwigs.
ABC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, Dana Walden, a senior Disney executive whose portfolio includes ABC News, is one of Harris' "extraordinary friends," according to a report in the New York Times. Walden and Harris have known each other since 1994, while their husbands, Matt Walden and Doug Emhoff, have known each other since the 1980s.
ABC told the New York Times that Walden, who is Disney’s highest-ranking television executive, does not weigh in on editorial decisions. She has donated to dozens of Democrats and has contributed to Harris’ political campaigns since at least 2003.
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Fox News Digital's Kendall Tietz contributed to this report.
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