How Are Food Prices Being Covered On Television News?

Authored by Kalev Leetaru via RealClear Politics,

How are food prices being covered on television news?

The timeline below shows total mentions of food prices across CNN, MSNBC and Fox News over the past decade, showing that mentions largely faded in 2014, before rising again in late 2019 to 2020 and surging around May 2021.

Fox News has mentioned food prices almost as much as CNN and MSNBC combined over the past decade.

Personality-driven shows dominate mentions of food prices.

Looking just since the start of the pandemic, food prices receive a burst of attention from late February to mid-May 2020 as the initial wave of lockdowns and restrictions raised questions of food access. Mentions surged again in May 2021 and have remained elevated since.

Over the course of the pandemic, Fox News has led mentions of food prices.

Looking at the total seconds of airtime in which food prices were mentioned in the onscreen text since the start of the pandemic, Fox News leads with 26 hours, followed by CNN’s 12 hours and MSNBC’s 7 hours.

Looking at business channel mentions since the start of the pandemic, Fox Business leads, with Bloomberg and CNBC roughly equal.