Studies point to lack of campaign substance on network newscasts

NEW YORK—Two studies of U.S. news coverage suggest that this is a presidential campaign with little substance—unless groping women, tax returns and email servers are your idea of major issues.

ADT Research, which monitors content of the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts, said Wednesday that with two weeks before Election Day, there has been less coverage of issues than for any presidential campaign the company has monitored, going back through 1988.

The conservative watchdog Media Research Center also counted the campaign topics that have taken up the most time on the newscasts since the end of the conventions. Of the 15 topics with the most attention, arguably only two—Donald Trump’s position on immigration and questions about his attitudes toward Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin—could be considered traditional policy issues.

“This year’s absence of issues is an accurate portrayal of the turf on which the election is being played out,” said Andrew Tyndall, head of ADT Research and publisher of the Tyndall Report.

Networks cast doubt on some of the research, saying it overlooks many of their substantive stories.

By Tyndall’s methodology, the network newscasts so far this year have spent only a third of the time on so-called issues stories compared to any of the last eight campaigns. He defines an issues story as one that takes a particular topic like immigration or Mideast policy and outlines the candidates’ position. He wouldn’t include, for example, coverage of a rally where a candidate talks about immigration.