News Outlet Candidate Tracker

These were the amount of times that a particular candidate was mentioned in American news outlets from May 2024 to present day. Biden’s coverage significantly diminished when he stepped out of the election and Harris took his place.

Here is the coverage each candidate got on left-leaning MSNBC, where Trump generally gets more coverage than Harris.

Centrist outlet CNN covered the current candidates more equally.

Right-leaning Fox News generally covered Harris more than Trump throughout the year.

Below is the R code for the charts

if (!require("tidyverse"))
  install.packages("tidyverse")
if (!require("plotly"))
  install.packages("plotly")
library(tidyverse)
library(plotly)

# Defining date range

startdate <- "20240429"
enddate <- "20241028"

### Trump

# Defining query

# Note:
# In queries, use %20 to indicate a space
# Example: "Donald%20Trump" is "Donald Trump"
# Use parentheses and %20OR%20 for "either/or" queries
# Example: "(Harris%20OR%20Walz)" is "(Harris OR Walz)"

query <- "Donald%20Trump"

# Building the volume dataframe

vp1 <- "https://api.gdeltproject.org/api/v2/tv/tv?query="
vp2 <- "%20market:%22National%22&mode=timelinevol&format=csv&datanorm=raw&startdatetime="
vp3 <- "000000&enddatetime="
vp4 <- "000000"
text_v_url <- paste0(vp1, query, vp2, startdate, vp3, enddate, vp4)
v_url <- URLencode(text_v_url)
v_url
Trump <- read_csv(v_url)
Trump <- Trump %>%
  rename(Date = 1, Trump = 3)

### Biden

# Defining query

query <- "Joe%20Biden"

# Building the volume dataframe

vp1 <- "https://api.gdeltproject.org/api/v2/tv/tv?query="
vp2 <- "%20market:%22National%22&mode=timelinevol&format=csv&datanorm=raw&startdatetime="
vp3 <- "000000&enddatetime="
vp4 <- "000000"
text_v_url <- paste0(vp1, query, vp2, startdate, vp3, enddate, vp4)
v_url <- URLencode(text_v_url)
v_url
Biden <- read_csv(v_url)
Biden <- Biden %>%
  rename(Date = 1, Biden = 3)

AllData <- left_join(Trump, Biden)

### Harris

# Defining query

query <- "Kamala%20Harris"

# Building the volume dataframe

vp1 <- "https://api.gdeltproject.org/api/v2/tv/tv?query="
vp2 <- "%20market:%22National%22&mode=timelinevol&format=csv&datanorm=raw&startdatetime="
vp3 <- "000000&enddatetime="
vp4 <- "000000"
text_v_url <- paste0(vp1, query, vp2, startdate, vp3, enddate, vp4)
v_url <- URLencode(text_v_url)
v_url
Harris <- read_csv(v_url)
Harris <- Harris %>%
  rename(Date = 1, Harris = 3)

AllData <- left_join(AllData, Harris)

### Graphic

AllData <- AllData %>%
  arrange(Date)

# Add "WeekOf" variable to the data frame

if (!require("lubridate"))
  install.packages("lubridate")
library(lubridate)

AllData$WeekOf <- round_date(AllData$Date,
                             unit = "week",
                             week_start = getOption("lubridate.week.start", 1))

CombinedCoverage <- AllData %>%
  group_by(WeekOf) %>%
  summarize(
    Trump = sum(Trump, na.rm = TRUE),
    Biden = sum(Biden, na.rm = TRUE),
    Harris = sum(Harris, na.rm = TRUE)
  )

fig <- plot_ly(
  CombinedCoverage,
  x = ~ WeekOf,
  y = ~ Trump,
  name = 'Trump',
  type = 'scatter',
  mode = 'none',
  stackgroup = 'one',
  fillcolor = '#B8001F')
fig <- fig %>% add_trace(y = ~ Biden,
                         name = 'Biden',
                         fillcolor = '#507687')

fig <- fig %>% add_trace(y = ~ Harris,
                         name = 'Harris',
                         fillcolor = '#384B70')
fig <- fig %>% layout(
  title = 'Segment counts, by topic and week',
  xaxis = list(title = "Week of", showgrid = FALSE),
  yaxis = list(title = "Count", showgrid = TRUE)
)

fig

# MSNBC

MSNBC <- AllData %>%
  filter(Series == "MSNBC")
figMSNBC <- plot_ly(
  MSNBC,
  x = ~ WeekOf,
  y = ~ Trump,
  name = 'Trump',
  type = 'scatter',
  mode = 'none',
  stackgroup = 'one',
  fillcolor = '#B8001F')
figMSNBC <- figMSNBC %>% add_trace(y = ~ Harris,
                                   name = 'Biden',
                                   fillcolor = '#507687')
figMSNBC <- figMSNBC %>% add_trace(y = ~ Harris,
                                   name = 'Harris',
                                   fillcolor = '#384B70')
figMSNBC <- figMSNBC %>% layout(
  title = 'Segment counts, MSNBC, by topic and week',
  xaxis = list(title = "Week of", showgrid = FALSE),
  yaxis = list(title = "Count", showgrid = TRUE)
)

figMSNBC

# CNN

CNN <- AllData %>%
  filter(Series == "CNN")
figCNN <- plot_ly(
  CNN,
  x = ~ WeekOf,
  y = ~ Trump,
  name = 'Trump',
  type = 'scatter',
  mode = 'none',
  stackgroup = 'one',
  fillcolor = '#B8001F')
figCNN <- figCNN %>% add_trace(y = ~ Harris,
                               name = 'Biden',
                               fillcolor = '#507687')
figCNN <- figCNN %>% add_trace(y = ~ Harris,
                               name = 'Harris',
                               fillcolor = '#384B70')
figCNN <- figCNN %>% layout(
  title = 'Segment counts, CNN, by topic and week',
  xaxis = list(title = "Week of", showgrid = FALSE),
  yaxis = list(title = "Count", showgrid = TRUE)
)

figCNN

#Fox News

FoxNews <- AllData %>%
  filter(Series == "FOXNEWS")
figFox <- plot_ly(
  FoxNews,
  x = ~ WeekOf,
  y = ~ Trump,
  name = 'Trump',
  type = 'scatter',
  mode = 'none',
  stackgroup = 'one',
  fillcolor = '#B8001F')
figFox <- figFox %>% add_trace(y = ~ Harris,
                               name = 'Biden',
                               fillcolor = '#507687')
figFox <- figFox %>% add_trace(y = ~ Harris,
                               name = 'Harris',
                               fillcolor = '#384B70')
figFox <- figFox %>% layout(
  title = 'Segment counts, Fox News, by topic and week',
  xaxis = list(title = "Week of", showgrid = FALSE),
  yaxis = list(title = "Count", showgrid = TRUE)
)

figFox