***To read the full blog, please check out the complete post on NewsBusters***
In bombshell report by The Washington Post Tuesday, it came to light that both the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research on then-candidate Donald Trump. In their efforts, Fusion hired former British spy Christopher Steele who in turn relied on Russian agents to compile most of the salacious dirt on Hillary’s opponent. Despite the fact that the Big Three Networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) once spent a combined 57 minutes on Donald Trump Jr. doing something similar, they brushed over the new allegations Wednesday evening as though they were of little consequence.
In all, the network evening newscasts spent six minutes and 31 seconds of airtime covering Clinton’s and DNC’s connection to the Trump dossier. ABC spent two minutes 22 seconds, CBS a solid two minutes, and NBC had two minutes and nine seconds, all were a fairly average length for standard news reports.
But when Don Jr. admitted to meeting with a Russian lawyer in Trump Tower for opposition research, which he never received, CBS spent 70 percent of its total airtime (12 minutes 57 seconds) talking about it; ABC spent 10 minutes 31 seconds (60 percent); NBC had seven minutes 42 seconds (the only network to spend more time on other news).
Not only did ABC and CBS spend less time talking about Clinton and the DNC’s use of foreign agents, they actually tried to further downplay it as either completely normal or just an “aggressive tactic.”
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