News commentary

Corporate broadcast and cable news ignored fatal anti-trans violence in 2024

Media Matters for America · last updated

In 2024, the major corporate broadcast and cable news networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC — responded to fatal violence against transgender people with near-total silence. Despite a record-setting wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation and a presidential campaign fixated on the issue of trans inclusion, just 5 national TV news segments included mentions of fatal anti-trans violence last year, amounting to a total of 3 minutes of airtime in all of 2024.

That figure represents a steep drop from 2023, when cable news and corporate broadcast networks aired 52 minutes of coverage across 23 segments and mentions. By further contrast, those same outlets devoted more than 6 hours to the topic in 2022 (with the inlcusion of PBS, which covered the topic for 11 minutes), much of it following the mass shooting at Club Q. 

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