The biggest story in the world right now is the ongoing war in southern Israel, with Israel bombing sites in Gaza, and Hamas firing rockets into Israel. By last night every network had the time to send people to the region, and that was reflected in TV coverage.
CNN: CNN had by far the most coverage of the conflict, dedicating just about every segment in every hour from 7-11PM to the conflict. Much of the reporting was done from the region, including Anderson Cooper in Gaza. The only exception was 9 PM’s “Piers Morgan Tonight,” which secured an important “get,” an interview with Israel’s President, Shimon Peres.
Fox News: FNC had less reporting from Israel and Gaza last night than CNN had, but still dedicated more time to the conflict than any other story. It was the lead story and the closing story on “Fox Report,” at 7 PM, and took up the first 20 minutes of 10 PM’s “On the Record.” That said, “The O’Reilly Factor” did not cover the conflict at all, instead featuring a segment on Mitt Romney, a segment on Libya and Dennis Miller talking about Twinkies. At 9 PM “Hannity” dedicated the first half-hour of his program to the conflict, though the bulk of the time was a talking head panel. That said, the 9 PM hour led off with a report from David Lee Miller in southern Israel.
MSNBC: MSNBC had by far the least coverage of the conflict, choosing to cover politics instead. The Nation‘s Greg Mitchell takes the network to task for its lack of coverage, and a quick check of TVEyes confirmed that the network only had about 15 minutes of coverage between 7 PM and 11 PM, mostly in two brief segments on “Hardball,” and at the top of 9 PM’s “Rachel Maddow.” At 8 PM and 10 PM, “The Ed Show” and “The Last Word” did not mention the conflict once. Stories they did cover included Paul Ryan, the 2016 election campaign (gah!) and, yes Twinkies.