On Monday, the special counsel who prosecuted Hunter Biden, David Weiss, issued a final report with blistering criticism of President Biden for suggesting he was politically motivated. In the early hours of Tuesday, the special counsel who prosecuted Donald Trump, Jack Smith, issued a partial final report. It’s a perfect exhibit for a media-bias contrast….and it was.
Jorge Bonilla pointed out on Monday night that CBS and NBC skipped over Weiss entirely, while ABC gave it 19 seconds. Two networks offered a Jack Smith preview: ABC (1:26) and CBS (19 seconds).
But on Tuesday morning, the ABC, CBS, and NBC morning shows gave eight minutes and 14 seconds to Jack Smith’s report on Trump, and ABC threw in 27 more seconds on Weiss.
ABC’s Good Morning America devoted two minutes and 28 seconds to Smith, more than CBS Mornings (2:16) and less than NBC’s Today (3:30).
Naturally, ABC’s report was helmed by former top Clinton aide George Stephanopoulos, while NBC turned to legal analyst (and weekend anchor) Laura Jarrett, who is the daughter of top Obama aide Valerie Jarrett. At least at the end, co-host Savannah Guthrie noted “It is interesting because Jack Smith revealed why he didn't charge Donald Trump with something more serious, such as insurrection or inciting the riot.” Jarrett replied, “He didn't think he could prove it.”
Then on Tuesday night, the networks all aired Jack Smith stories again, for a combined five minutes and 57 seconds. ABC (1:54), CBS (2:22), and NBC (1:41) alternated between Smith hot takes and Trump hot takes. Trump called Smith "deranged," and Smith boasted he would have convicted Trump of crimes. Yeah, if it hadn't been for those meddling voters.
Add all that up, and Jack Smith drew almost 17 minutes (16:56) over the two evening and one morning cycles on ABC, CBS, and NBC, while Weiss had 46 seconds. That's about 22 to 1.
On Monday night, the PBS NewsHour did an anchor brief on David Weiss lasting 29 seconds. On Tuesday night, Jack Smith drew almost five minutes (4:47). Add that to the Big Three, and it's a differential of 20 minutes, 43 seconds for Smith to a minute and 15 seconds for Weiss. Between this quartet, that's more than 16 to 1.
On Monday, PBS @NewsHour anchor Amna Nawaz offered a perfunctory 29-second brief on the final report from Hunter Biden's special counsel David Weiss. On Tuesday, the same show devoted almost five minutes to the final report of Donald Trump's special counsel Jack Smith. pic.twitter.com/AulIqoPBQx
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) January 15, 2025
The top national newspapers also demonstrated a tilt. Smith’s report made the top half of the front page on Wednesday in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. On Tuesday, the Post put Weiss at the top of page one, but the Journal put it on A-3, and a story couldn’t be found in our delivered New York Times. Nexis suggests a story appeared on page A-18, but not in our Washington edition.
Even so, the newspaper accounts were entirely a debate between Democrats – Weiss complaining about Biden, and Hunter Biden’s lawyer shooting back at Weiss. None of the newspaper stories addressed any comment from Republicans or the IRS whistleblowers who testified before the Republican-led hearings into the Biden family influence-peddling business.
For example, Nick Pope at The Daily Caller reported that Jason Foster, counsel for the IRS whistleblowers, told them “The Weiss report is a joke. It’s unserious. We said from the beginning that he should not have been special counsel.”
