Just as we finished up our study looking at the last nine and a half months of border coverage, the broadcast networks began shrieking in disgust at a line of red buoys that Texas Governor Greg Abbott had installed in the Rio Grande. Over their past week their buoy-induced wailing has already eclipsed the airtime given to issues like child labor and drug smuggling since October of 2022.

MRC analysts found that between July 19 and July 26, broadcast networks ABC, CBS, and NBC spent a combined 2056 seconds (34 min, 16 sec) on the buoys across their flagship morning and evening newscasts. Even if we look only at evening newscasts, as our recent study did, we’re left with 935 seconds (15 min, 35 sec) — more than these networks over the last ten months have spent on migrant child labor (807 seconds), illegal crossings from Canada (323 seconds), and drug smuggling (294).

The media hate these buoys for the same reason that they hate any other barrier along our southern border: because they make it harder for illegal aliens to enter the country. It really is that simple. Just look at how they’ve been talking about them…