Morning Wire The Gap Between Media Coverage and Public Opinion
12 snips
Jan 31, 2026 
Bill D'Agostino, senior analyst at the Media Research Center who studies media bias, breaks down how network news covered ICE. He highlights overwhelming negativity, omitted context about crimes, and selective incident framing. Short takes include underreported protest funding, framing inconsistencies, and whether coverage actually shifts public opinion.
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Evening News Was Overwhelmingly Negative On ICE
- Broadcast evening newscasts showed overwhelmingly negative coverage of ICE during the studied period.
- Only 1.6% of that coverage mentioned crimes by the individuals ICE targeted.
Contextual Harms From Protests Were Largely Omitted
- Networks rarely included context about violent incidents or protester tactics that made the left look bad.
- Coverage often omitted property damage, intimidation, and other harms caused by protests.
Sanctuary Status Was Missing From Coverage
- Reporters rarely mentioned Minneapolis and Minnesota's sanctuary policies as key context.
- That omission hides why ICE activity prompted intense local protests there specifically.