# What fraction of cable news coverage is spent on politics? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2018, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-cable-news-coverage-is-spent-on-politics/822157 "2018-09-29T06:25:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-cable-news-coverage-is-spent-on-politics/822157/1 "2018-09-29T06:25:08Z")
As a fraction of a 24-hour day, how much time do the cable news networks (CNN, MSNBC, Fox) spend covering national politics, as opposed to other topics? I’d also be curious to know how this has changed over time, if any. Does anyone know of a study that has looked at these numbers? I took a road trip recently and spent quite a while listening to CNN on SiriusXM. I was struck by the realization that essentially 100% of the coverage was about US national politics. Basically, they’ve turned politics into the ultimate reality TV show. Wondering if it has always been this way or if this is an artifact of the Trump era. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-cable-news-coverage-is-spent-on-politics/822157/2 "2018-09-29T07:52:38Z")
Even the non-political stories may have intended political messages. I clicked to foxnews’ home page just now. The ENTERTAINMENT stories are “Michael Moore slams ex-wife’s lawsuit as a ‘smear campaign’” and “Kevin Spacey sued by masseur over alleged sexual assault.” That 2nd story _might_ serve up a “Hollywood liberals are hypocrites … and queers” message. In its [report on Ted Turner’s dementia](http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2018/09/29/ted-turner-billionaire-founder-cnn-battling-brain-disease.html) FoxNews found room for > [@Ted Turner](#): > > I think [CNN is] stickin’ with politics a little too much. They’d do better to have – a more balanced – agenda. But that’s, you know, just one person’s opinion. It sounds like Turner agrees that political coverage is too high. FoxNews, instead of taking this message to heart, uses his comment to push a political message! ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-cable-news-coverage-is-spent-on-politics/822157/3 "2018-09-29T08:35:27Z")
Most cable news channels are produced into two hour blocks that repeat over and over, until the big-ticket evening shows come on (Rachel Maddow, Hannty, etc.). Depending on what the big stories of the day are, I’d estimate that a quarter of each two-hour block is explicitly political. This is from memory, as I watch very little American TV these days. Of course, there are niche news outlets. C-Span is almost entirely political, whereas Fox has spinoff sports and financial news stations. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-cable-news-coverage-is-spent-on-politics/822157/4 "2018-09-29T15:06:45Z")
Hurricane Florence dominated all coverage for days, just as earlier hurricanes have. I don’t doubt that coverage of Trump has greatly increased over coverage of no-drama Obama. It’s all that people talk about these days and cable news follows the people. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-cable-news-coverage-is-spent-on-politics/822157/5 "2018-09-29T21:43:55Z")
CNN went all in with trump in summer 2015 when he said he was running ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2018, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-cable-news-coverage-is-spent-on-politics/822157/6 "2018-09-29T22:33:28Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Hurricane Florence dominated all coverage for days, just as earlier hurricanes have. > > I don’t doubt that coverage of Trump has greatly increased over coverage of no-drama Obama. It’s all that people talk about these days and cable news follows the people. I dont really think you can call him No-Drama Obama when the NSA and WikiLeaks stuff got started under him. Hell the networks did too LITTLE coverage of that scandal at the time.