Study: CBS, ABC and NBC nightly newscasts combined for a total of 5 minutes of Afghanistan coverage in 2020

Responsible Statecraft

That's out of a combined 14,000-plus minutes of national evening news last year, representing a 19-year low for Afghanistan coverage on the three networks’ newscasts, according to network news analyst Andrew Tyndall. "While the pathetic amount of coverage of the conflict last year can be partially explained by the virtually total dominance of the news agenda by the COVID-19 pandemic, the three networks devoted a total of only 362 minutes to Afghanistan in the preceding five years, or just two hours of coverage per network, or an average of only 24 minutes per network per year," says Jim Lobe. He adds: "Indeed, as much as the networks and other mainstream media are currently focused on the fate of Afghans who worked with the U.S. and allied forces and may now be trying to flee the country, very little of the network coverage over the past 20 years addressed the plight of Afghan soldiers and civilians compared to that accorded to U.S. soldiers. In an interview with Responsible Statecraft, Tyndall estimated that 95 percent of network coverage of the fighting itself after 2002 was devoted to the U.S. role."