Unemployment dipped to the lowest rate since December 1969 in September, but ABC, CBS and NBC evening news shows only spent exactly one minute combined sharing the strong economic news.
In contrast, just one of those shows spent more than that on a single entertainment segment on Oct. 5.
NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt interviewed comedian Kenan Thompson of “Saturday Night Live” about being its “elder statesman” with 16 years on the show. The segment about Thompson, the show and his well-known sketches like “Black Jeopardy,” lasted 2 minutes 9 seconds.
Nightly News spent 19 seconds talking about the “milestone” for the economy as the jobs report showed a 3.7 percent unemployment rate and 134,000 jobs added in September. NBC spent six times more on SNL than on the huge economic news.
Holt was upbeat, but brief. So were CBS and ABC. CBS Evening News gave the longest delivery with 22 seconds about the “welcome news” about jobs. ABC World News Tonight with David Muir tied with NBC at 19 seconds.
