Liberal media networks NBC News, CBS News, ABC News and CNN have all but ignored the “Twitter Files” on air, with only MSNBC offering serious coverage of the company’s internal documents in the past few days.
While the files dominated discussion on Twitter, which has been known to spark debate among members of the press, there was almost no on-air coverage of the internal documents.
Since Friday, networks discussed Twitter files for a total of 14 minutes. According to a review of Grabien’s transcripts, the term “Twitter files” was used only six times on air during the same period.
TWITTER FILES REVEAL EMPLOYEE DISBELIEVED TRUMP BREAKED ‘CAVE’ POLICY IN PART 5
Elon Musk and Matt Taibbi released the “Twitter Files” on Dec. 2, revealing internal communications between Twitter employees and US lawmakers surrounding the NY Post’s censorship of Hunter Biden’s laptop.
(Fox News)
CNN covered the story for three minutes only on December 9, while MSNBC devoted two minutes to the story that day, as well as five minutes on December 11 and four minutes on December 12.
CBS News, ABC News and NBC News have not discussed the Twitter files in the past week.
“You’re looking right now and they’re definitely talking about Hunter Biden’s laptop. They’re in the middle of Twitter, I swear I’ve tried a thousand times to read and understand what they’re trying to prove and if they’re proving anything “Maybe Twitter made some decisions they didn’t like,” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Monday, referring briefly to the files.
Monday evening’s newscasts were filled with discussions about Twitter, including criticism of Musk and the re-release of Twitter Blue. However, the Twitter files have never surfaced, except briefly on NBC News when a reporter discussed how former Twitter executive Yoel Roth was forced to leave his home after receiving death threats.
MSNBC’s left-leaning host Mehdi Hasan was the pundit who suggested airing the story in its entirety on Sunday, arguing that there was no evidence in the Twitter files that the company was biased against conservatives.
“Do Twitter Files Reveal Left-Wing Bias on Twitter?” Hasan asked rhetorically. “No. In fact, the whole of Twitter discriminates against conservatives – as Elon, or his spin peddlers, conservative journalists like to say, is literally the opposite of the truth.”
TECH GURU SLAMS TWITTER’S SHADOW PROCESS AS ‘A STEP TOWARDS GEORGE ORWELL’S POLICE’.
A split photo of former U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, in Palm Beach, Florida, Nov. 15, 2022.
(via Joe Raedle/Getty Images/Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg Getty Images)
During the segment, Hasan cited an internal investigation by Twitter last year that claimed the algorithm was more likely to promote right-wing politicians than left-wing politicians.
On December 4, the main Sunday shows of ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN devoted a total of seven seconds to the event, prompting Twitter CEO Elon Musk to call for silence.
“I think these people need to look in the mirror and wonder why they’re being conned. Why are they deceiving the American public?” Musk asked. “And instead of pointing the blame at Matt Taibbi, they should take some responsibility themselves for not being truthful with the American public.”
Over the weekend of December 2, MSNBC devoted three minutes of coverage and CNN covered the story for 10 minutes. CNN also covered Musk on Monday night in the context of his criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci.
When asked for comment, ABC News, NBC News, CBS News and CNN did not respond to questions about why they skipped coverage of the Twitter files, if they felt it was important to inform viewers about the incident, or if they planned to cover it in the future. reports on internal Twitter documents.
TURN ON TWITTER FILES: JACK DORSEY UNDER OATH IS GRANTED TWITTER WILL NOT CENSOR, NOT ‘BAN SHADOW’ CONSERVATIVES
The fifth installment of Elon Musk’s “Twitter Files” revealed Monday that employees believed tweets written by former President Trump around the Jan. 6 events did not violate the company’s anti-incitement policy, despite what the company said at the time.
The Twitter files began on Dec. 2 when Matt Taibbi revealed an internal effort to suppress a 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden.
Bari Weiss reported on the second part of the Twitter Files on Thursday, in which the company has “blacklisted” or shadow-banned certain tweets and users.
The third and fourth sections are devoted to showing what led to Trump’s removal from Twitter on January 8, 2021. Musk reinstated Trump’s Twitter account in November.
Fox News’ Amy Nelson and Joseph A. Wolfson contributed to this report.