Certain audiences of ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir have expressed outrage regarding the coverage of the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
On September 10, Muir, alongside co-moderator Linsey Davis, fact-checked Trump on multiple occasions; however, they did not apply the same scrutiny to Harris, as reported by Fox News on Tuesday. A number of conservative commentators have indicated that the debate lacked fairness, which has allegedly resulted in repercussions for the network.
The outlet continued:
“Muir’s “World News Tonight” averaged 6.7 million viewers on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the three episodes following the debate, after averaging 7.6 million in 2024 leading up to the debate. The 12% drop in viewers for “World News Tonight” is more significant than slight declines “CBS Evening News” and “NBC Nightly News” saw when comparing the three episodes following ABC’s debate to the year-to-date totals, although Muir’s newscast remained the No. 1 broadcast evening newscast.”
Following the 90-minute debate, viewers criticized the moderators for their perceived favoritism towards Harris, alleging a double standard in the application of follow-up questions, fact-checking, and the framing of inquiries, as reported by Breitbart News.
Conversely, Democratic allies within the mainstream media expressed enthusiastic approval of Muir and Davis after the debate, according to a report from Breitbart News on Wednesday.
The article highlighted that at one juncture during the debate, Muir fact-checked Trump’s assertion regarding his sarcastic remarks about the 2020 election results made in a recent interview.
A recent report from Fox indicated uncertainty about whether Trump’s supporters have ceased viewing ABC’s newscast following the debate; however, Trump characterized the coverage as “one-sided.”
In an interview on Fox News Channel’s Fox and Friends, Trump referred to Muir and Davis as a “rigged deal” and implied that they exemplify the media landscape in America. He also said, “[A] lot of people are very angry about it. And, you know, you have corrupt news organizations. You have a lot of bad people. It’s amazing.”
