How has unemployment been covered on television news? The timeline below shows total mentions of unemployment across CNN, MSNBC and Fox News over the past decade, showing the surge in mentions from the 2008 recession fading from late 2012 through early 2015. Fox News begins talking about unemployment again in early 2018, while all three channels experience a surge in mentions in March 2020 with pandemic lockdowns, while mentions have steadily decreased through the pandemic.