Media Gave 62 Times More Coverage to Trump Tariffs Than Booming Jobs Report

Sarah Arnold | April 15, 2025 7:30 PM

Mainstream media outlets are once again revealing their priorities—and bias—by devoting a staggering 62 times more coverage to the Trump tariffs and market jitters than to the rock-solid economic findings under President Donald Trump. Despite the latest jobs report showing booming employment, wage growth, and a historically low unemployment rate, legacy media chose to downplay the good economic news in favor of pushing fear over a trade war.

Over the past two weeks, liberal media outlets, particularly ABC, CBS, and NBC, have been obsessed with the Trump administration’s tariffs since the president’s “Liberation Day” and little care for the stellar jobs numbers. According to reports, the topic of Trump’s tariffs took up more than a third of the total run time of these networks' morning and evening newscasts. However, they gave little coverage to the more positive economic news, such as the declining Consumer Price Index and a stronger-than-expected jobs report.

From April 2 (Liberation Day) to April 11, ABC, CBS, and NBC dedicated nearly seven hours and two minutes to reporting about Trump’s trade war, with all three outlets surpassing two hours each. ABC aired 148 minutes on the topic, NBC 144 minutes, and CBS 130 minutes talking about the president’s tariffs.

Despite the strong economic news, liberal networks barely mentioned the March jobs report, which showed U.S. employers added 228,000 jobs—far surpassing expectations of 140,000. Economists had forecast just 115,000, yet businesses delivered 209,000 new positions. Adding to the positive outlook, the Consumer Price Index fell, driven by lower gas prices. Still, coverage was nearly nonexistent: ABC gave the story just 14 seconds, NBC only 11 seconds, and CBS skipped it entirely on release day—only briefly mentioning it for 20 seconds the following morning. Critics argue it’s another example of the media downplaying economic wins under Trump.