 Omarosa Manigault Newman |
Omarosa Manigault Newman has elbowed coverage of such topics as Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the continuing plight of at least 500 immigrant children who remain separated from their families off camera, according to an Aug. 17 blog published on news website Media Matters.
A search the website conducted using the Snapstream video database shows that from August 9 to August 15, coverage of Newman, her book and surreptitiously recorded tapes was center stage for over 13 hours on CNN, over 5½ hours on Fox News and close to 16 hours on MSNBC, far outpacing stories about several other controversies.
For instance, the separation of immigrant families received only 45 minutes of air time on MSNBC during the same period, with CNN and Fox lagging ever further behind, with about 18 minutes and 4½ minutes of coverage respectively. Stories about the central role that several Mar-a-Lago associates of the president are allegedly taking at the Department of Veterans Affairs accounted for just under three minutes of airtime on MSNBC, 4:41 at CNN and no coverage at all on Fox.
Coverage of the confirmation process for Kavanaugh did slightly better, racking up 54 minutes on Fox, 39:33 on MSNBC and 10 minutes on CNN. Coming in dead last in the Media Matters figures was airtime allotted to stories about the attempts by HUD to roll back an Obama-era rule intended to curb housing segregation. Fox once again did not mention the topic at all, while CNN and MSNBC gave it only eight seconds and 15 seconds of time respectively.
But Omarosa’s welcome at CNN, at least, shows some signs of wearing out. According to the New York Post, she was scheduled to appear on Jake Tapper’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, but the network canceled the appearance. In addition, the Post says that CNN’s Don Lemon was offered one of the first cable interviews with her, but turned it down.
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