Evening newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC have sugarcoated the crisis along the southern border, focusing on Title 42 and “the plight of illegal immigrants” while largely ignoring issues such as drug trafficking, according to the Media Research Center.
“There’s no telling how many thieves, murderers, rapists and child molesters have entered illegally because of [President] Biden’s new policies. But the ‘news’ media couldn’t care less — they like them,” Media Research Center founder and president Brent Bozell told Fox News Digital.
MRC senior research analyst Bill D’Agostino examined ABC’s “World News Tonight,” CBS’ “Evening News” and “NBC Nightly News” from October 1, 2022 through July 20, 2023 and found that coverage of the border “continued to focus almost exclusively on the plight of illegal immigrants.”
The MRC, a conservative watchdog, found that 254 minutes, 43 seconds were spent on the border crisis during that time span, and nearly half the coverage was related to Title 42, while less than five minutes was spent on drug trafficking.
Earlier this year, the Biden administration let Title 42 expire.
Title 42, which dated back to 2020 under the Trump administration, allowed US officials to turn away migrants who came to the US-Mexico border because of health concerns at the height of the COVID pandemic.
According to the MRC, the border crisis would have received significantly less coverage if Title 42 didn’t force its way into mainstream media.
Coverage of Title 42 accounted for 48.8% of all border-related stories, while covering the border as a political issue made up another 14.8% of the segments, according to the study.
Evening newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC mentioned the border crisis in general during 12.7% of the coverage while drug trafficking accounted for a measly 294 seconds of total coverage to make up less than two percent.
“Nearly every full-length report included sound bites from migrants desperate to enter the United States. It was never a question of how many should be let in, or whom. Rather, the answer was already assumed to be ‘everyone,’ and the only question was how best to achieve that goal while making the process as comfortable as possible for the illegal entrants,” D’Agostino wrote.
“The broadcast networks were intensely interested in Title 42, and in fact that topic alone comprised more than half of their border coverage,” D’Agostino continued. “Almost every discussion of Title 42 emphasized how difficult the restriction was making life for would-be migrants lined up at the border waiting to cross. Title 42 was also the driving force behind immigration stories dealing with other topics.”
The cornerstone of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ post-Title 42 strategy was an asylum rule that makes migrants ineligible for asylum if they entered the US illegally and failed to claim asylum in other countries through which they passed.
It has also ramped up the use of expedited removal and “credible fear” screenings.
Linked to that is a requirement that those entering the US at the border schedule an appointment via the controversial CBP One App.
Initially there were 1,000 appointments a day for migrants to be paroled into the US, but that number has since ballooned to 1,450 a day.
Meanwhile, other programs open up pathways without migrants having to travel to the border.
One allows for 30,000 nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua to fly directly into the US a month, while the US has also set up processing centers across Central America and has recently expanded a family unification program for relatives of citizens and permanent residents from certain countries.
The strategy has drawn criticism from right and left, with left-wing groups challenging the asylum rule in court, arguing that it unlawfully limits the right of foreign nationals to claim asylum.
Meanwhile, conservative states have accused the administration of abusing the parole system to allow migrants in by the tens of thousands, noting that Congress says the power is to be used on a “case by case” basis due to urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.
Separately, a May policy that allowed for the release of migrants into the US due to overcrowding was blocked in May after a lawsuit from Florida.
As for coverage on ABC’s “World News Tonight,” CBS’ “Evening News” and “NBC Nightly News,” criticism was largely reserved for Republicans, according to the study.
“Almost without exception, discussions about political issues involving the border portrayed Republicans as ruthless border hawks with no capacity for empathy,” D’Agostino wrote. “The broadcast networks never once used the term ‘illegal immigration,’ ‘illegal immigrant’ or ‘illegal alien.’”
ABC, CBS and NBC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Fox News’ Ashlyn Messier and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.