Broadcast Bias: Networks Obsess Over Trump Tell-Alls, Ignore Biden Bombshells

The airwaves have a curious habit of picking favorites, and when it comes to political tell-all books, the bias is as clear as a summer day. Network coverage of books spilling the beans on Donald Trump has been a feeding frenzy, while those revealing Joe Biden's struggles barely get a whisper. This isn’t just a quirk—it’s a pattern that starts at the publishing houses and ripples through the newsrooms.

In 2018, Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury was treated like a blockbuster, with ABC, CBS, and NBC devoting over two hours in a single week to its anti-Trump revelations. Savannah Guthrie on NBC’s Today leaned into Wolff’s claims, hinting at Trump’s mental unfitness with a nudge and a wink, as Wolff boldly declared that 100 percent of Trump’s inner circle questioned his competence. Later that year, Omarosa Manigault-Newman’s Unhinged got 93 minutes of airtime, with networks amplifying her explosive allegations of Trump’s racism and even suggestions he wanted to spark a race war.

Contrast that with the recent Biden tell-all by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson. Dropped months after Biden left office, it revealed jaw-dropping details—like Biden not recognizing George Clooney at a 2024 fundraiser or aides considering a wheelchair for him post-election. Yet, the networks barely blinked. NBC gave it a brief nod, while ABC, CBS, and PBS barely scraped together a minute of coverage combined. CBS managed an interview with the authors, where Gayle King pressed them on why they sat on these scoops until the book deal. Tapper’s response? They’d have broken the story earlier if they’d had it—convenient, but it doesn’t erase the fact that Democrats only spilled the tea after losing the White House.

The networks’ selective enthusiasm isn’t new. Special counsel Robert Hur’s 2023 probe into Biden, including audio of the former president forgetting his vice-presidential years, got a measly four minutes and 52 seconds of coverage across ABC, CBS, and NBC over ten months. Compare that to the 2,092 minutes lavished on Trump-Russia collusion stories in 2017-2018. The math doesn’t lie—networks love a Trump scandal but clutch their pearls when it’s Biden’s turn.

Tapper and Thompson admitted they went too soft on Biden, even conceding conservative media had a point about his decline. But don’t hold your breath for a network mea culpa. They’ve already mastered the art of parroting Democratic talking points while dismissing Biden’s fitness as MAGA noise. The lesson here? Don’t expect balance when the newsroom’s got a favorite narrative to push.