Video: RCP's Kalev Leetaru: Capitol Storming Received Fraction Of The Television News Airtime Devoted To George Floyd Protests

How can we compare the television news airtime devoted to the January 6, 2021 Capitol storming with that of the George Floyd protests in summer 2020? The timeline below shows the total seconds of airtime each day since the start of last year that depicted a crowd of people. Crowds were common on television news until the first week of March, when they all but disappeared as the world locked down. The George Floyd protests brought a surge in crowd coverage of the protests that lasted for a week and a half. Yet the Capitol storming received just a single day of elevated coverage. During that day, CNN spent 4.6 hours less on the storming than it did on its peak George Floyd protest coverage day, MSNBC spent 4.3 hours less. Fox News on the other hand, spent just 26 fewer minutes on the Capitol storming than its peak George Floyd day. Interestingly, Fox News spent the most airtime on footage of crowds and protests during the day of the Capitol attack, while it spent less airtime on the George Floyd protests.

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