CONTAINING LINKS TO 58103 STORIES FROM THE NETWORKS' NIGHTLY NEWSCASTS
TYNDALL YEAR IN REVIEW
TOP TWENTY STORIES OF 2016

minsTotalABCCBSNBC
2016 Donald Trump campaign1144434317393
2016 Hillary Clinton campaign506199149159
Mosquitoes spread Zika virus2555712475
Syria civil war: Siege of Aleppo2382613974
Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games2306240128
Trump Administration transition225797670
Winter weather212915368
Gay club massacre in Orlando163506647
Hurricane Matthew158554656
2016 Republican Convention137385048
Brussels terrorist bomb attacks132464343
Secy of State Clinton e-mails130395041
Russian cyberespionage, hacking129304555
2016 General Election held127434341
2016 Bernie Sanders campaign115265237
Iraq civil war: Battle of Mosul115186631
2016 Presidential debates111393240
2016 Iowa caucuses106382939
2016 Democratic Convention103392935
Tornado season101492726
Total Top Twenty Stories4437145814751504
Total Campaign 2016 Stories3304115110421112


FOCUS ON CANDIDATES (three-network mins)

yeartotal   DemocratminsRepublicanmins
20163304Hillary Clinton506Donald Trump1144
20122016Barack Obama157Mitt Romney479
20083677Barack Obama745John McCain531
20042433John Kerry445George W Bush352
20003102Al Gore297George W Bush339
19961883Bill Clinton174Bob Dole337
19923040Bill Clinton448GHW Bush461
19883117M Dukakis421GHW Bush388


REPORTERS' USE OF BUREAUS

minsTotalABCCBSNBC
Foreign Dateline1359271594494
Washington DC1959437859663
Domestic Dateline8934295827633213
Non-Reporter Stories2128919712496
Hard Breaking News9249345428112983
Features, Interviews, Soft News5133113021191883
Total Annual Coverage14381458449294867
To contradict the hype: Campaign 2016 was not a blockbuster. The Presidential race received the standard amount of coverage for a non-incumbent contest: slightly less than in 2008, slightly more than in 2000 and in 1988. Nothing unusual.
What was unusual was the coverage of Donald Trump -- with more than twice as much airtime as Hillary Clinton -- both unprecedented free publicity and unprecedented scrutiny. With ABC's Tom Llamas in the lead, this election was presented as a contest of personalities rather than of public policy issues.
This was truly a lame-duck year for the Obama Administration, with the least coverage of US foreign policy in the 29-year history of this database, the least on the economy, and the third-least on federal domestic policy. The DC bureaus at ABC and NBC have never received less airtime.
The major global datelines of the year were in the Middle East: Aleppo was reconquered by Syrian government forces; and Iraqi government forces massed to try to reconquer Mosul. CBS treated both as major stories, unlike ABC, which barely mentioned either. Domestically, the ghastly massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando was the most newsworthy crime.
NBC, as is its habit, shilled for its sports division during the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Brazil, mosquitoes spread a virus that caused birth defects and CBS in-house physician Jon LaPook led coverage.
Most Newsworthy Man of the Year and Woman of the Year are no-brainers: the aforesaid Trump and Clinton, naturally.


TOP 20 MOST USED REPORTERS (Anchors excl)

netnameassignmentmins
ABCTom LlamasCampaign 2016482
CBSMajor GarrettCampaign 2016374
CBSNancy CordesCampaign 2016338
NBCMiguel AlmaguerDomestic330
ABCCecilia VegaCampaign 2016320
NBCAndrea MitchellDC Bureau313
NBCHallie JacksonCampaign 2016280
NBCTom CostelloDC Bureau280
NBCGabe GutierrezDomestic249
NBCKaty TurCampaign 2016229
ABCJonathan KarlWhite House203
CBSKris van CleaveTransportation161
CBSDavid BegnaudDomestic154
CBSDean ReynoldsDomestic150
ABCGio BenitezDomestic150
NBCPete WilliamsJustice150
CBSJon LaPookHealth149
CBSJeff PeguesJustice148
ABCMatt GutmanDomestic148
NBCRichard EngelForeign148