Is anyone really surprised?
The so-called “big three” networks — ABC, CBS, and NBC — are under fire after a new study revealed a massive pro-Democrat bias in their coverage of the ongoing government shutdown.
According to a Media Research Center (MRC) analysis released this week, 87% of all shutdown coverage between October 1 and October 31, 2025, favored Democrats and criticized President Trump and Congressional Republicans, while largely shielding Democrats from blame for the historic gridlock.
MRC analysts reviewed 67 reports and news briefs across the three evening newscasts and found a stark imbalance:
• 83 evaluative statements criticized Republicans.
• Only 12 criticized Democrats.
In fact, fewer than one in five reports even mentioned that Senate Democrats repeatedly refused to vote for a clean continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government — the key sticking point behind the shutdown.
“Not a single report mentioned that Democrats voted back in March to end the same Obamacare subsidies they’re now demanding,” the MRC report found.
Coverage was often vague about how the shutdown began.
ABC’s World News Tonight and CBS’s Evening News mentioned the Senate Democrats’ blockade in just 12.5% of their reports. NBC included that fact in only 31% of its broadcasts.
Instead, reports typically framed Republicans as obstructionists while casting Democrats as humanitarian heroes, highlighting stories about families and patients affected by stalled Obamacare subsidies.
“Democrats want Republicans to reverse Medicaid cuts and extend expiring Obamacare subsidies, so health insurance premiums don’t go up for millions,” ABC’s Rachel Scott said on October 2.
“Democrats fighting for an extension of Obamacare tax credits, which would keep premiums from skyrocketing,” added ABC’s Jay O’Brien on October 28.
NBC’s Nightly News even devoted more than two full minutes to a health care segment linking premium costs to the shutdown — again without explaining Democrats’ role in blocking a funding vote.
Meanwhile, on October 30, NBC’s Tom Costello reported that airlines like Delta and United were “urging Congress” to pass a CR — but failed to note that their plea aligned with the Republican position, not a bipartisan one.
The next morning on Today, Costello quietly acknowledged that the airlines’ appeal actually backed the GOP effort to reopen the government — but the correction never aired on the nightly broadcast.
The study paints a damning picture of how the nation’s top broadcasters framed the shutdown:
Republicans as villains.
Democrats as saviors.
And viewers left with a one-sided version of events.
Read the full article over at MRC:
‘Coverage across all three networks was conspicuously vague about how the shutdown even had occurred.’ Read ‘STUDY: TV News Spends Shutdown Playing Defense for Democrats.’ No wonder many have a skewed idea of what is happening. https://t.co/Yc1AuMPyn9
— Byron York (@ByronYork) November 6, 2025
