Quick Hit:

With Kamala Harris and Donald Trump set to face off in their only scheduled debate Tuesday night on ABC News, a new study highlights a significant bias in the news outlet's coverage leading up to the event. The Media Research Center’s analysis reveals ABC’s World News Tonight has aired overwhelmingly favorable coverage of Harris, while casting Trump in a predominantly negative light.

Key Details:

• Media Research Center analyzed 100 campaign stories on World News Tonight, showing 100% positive coverage for Harris and 93% negative coverage for Trump.

• ABC’s newscast avoided labeling Harris as "liberal" and featured no voter opposition to her, while emphasizing Trump’s controversies.

• ABC's David Muir, who will moderate Tuesday's debate, has overseen this one-sided coverage, raising concerns about fairness during the debate.

Diving Deeper:

With Kamala Harris and Donald Trump set to face off in their only scheduled debate Tuesday night, a new study from the Media Research Center (MRC) sheds light on the significant bias in ABC’s election coverage leading up to the event. The study highlights how World News Tonight, ABC's flagship news program moderated by David Muir, has provided overwhelmingly favorable coverage of Harris while casting Trump in a predominantly negative light, raising concerns about the fairness of Tuesday’s high-stakes debate, which will be hosted by ABC.

From July 21st, the day Harris entered the race, through September 6th, MRC analysts reviewed 100 campaign stories aired on World News Tonight. Their analysis found that Harris received zero negative statements from nonpartisan sources, reporters, or anchors, giving her a perfect 100% positive spin. In contrast, Trump faced 66 negative comments and only five positive statements, resulting in 93% negative coverage.

The MRC report highlights the editorial choices that contributed to this imbalance. ABC avoided labeling Harris as a "liberal" or "progressive," unlike CBS and NBC, which made early efforts to identify her ideology. Instead, any mention of Harris’s political stance came from Republicans, particularly Trump, while ABC’s reporters and anchors sidestepped the topic altogether. Additionally, World News Tonight featured no voter opposition to Harris, in stark contrast to CBS and NBC, both of which included segments showing voter dissatisfaction with the vice president.

ABC’s coverage of Trump, meanwhile, focused heavily on his controversies, offering extensive airtime to his remarks questioning Harris’s racial background and his comments on military honors. These stories spanned several minutes across multiple broadcasts, reinforcing a negative narrative around the former president. At the same time, ABC declined to cover negative stories involving Harris, including her husband Doug Emhoff’s admission of marital infidelity, a story that both CBS and NBC touched on briefly but ABC ignored altogether.

Tuesday's debate, moderated by David Muir, raises questions about how balanced the forum will be, given ABC’s clear editorial slant. As managing editor of World News Tonight, Muir oversees the network’s editorial decisions, casting doubt on whether Harris will face the same level of scrutiny as Trump. The debate, which serves as a critical moment for voters, is meant to offer a neutral platform, but the network’s past coverage suggests that it may not provide a fair opportunity for both candidates.

ABC’s consistent positive portrayal of Harris is in stark contrast to its treatment of Trump, who has faced relentless criticism from the network. While both CBS and NBC exhibited similar trends of favorable coverage for Harris and critical coverage of Trump, the MRC study shows that ABC’s bias is the most extreme. Harris received 100% positive coverage, compared to 94% on CBS and 71% on NBC, while Trump’s negative coverage on ABC (93%) exceeded the hostility he faced on CBS (77%) and NBC (86%).

As viewers prepare for the debate, questions about ABC’s impartiality loom large. Trump supporters and critics of the media will likely be watching closely to see if the debate reflects the same bias that has characterized ABC’s coverage to date. With Muir at the helm of the debate, concerns persist over whether the forum will provide a level playing field for both candidates or follow the same one-sided pattern seen on World News Tonight.