Twitter files: CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS blackout coverage of Elon Musk leaks

Liberal media networks NBC News, CBS News, ABC News, and CNN largely ignored the "Twitter files" on the air, with only MSNBC offering substantial coverage of the company’s internal documents in the past several days.

While the files have dominated discussion on Twitter, a site known to facilitate discussions among members of the press, on-air coverage of the internal documents has been almost nonexistent. 

Since Friday, networks have only discussed the Twitter files for a combined total of 14 minutes. The term "Twitter files" has only been used six times on-air over the same span of time, according to a review of Grabien transcripts by Fox News Digital. 

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CNN covered the story for three minutes, only on Dec. 9, while MSNBC spent two minutes on the story the same day, as well as five minutes on Dec. 11 and four minutes on Dec. 12.

CBS News, ABC News, and NBC News have not discussed the Twitter files in the last week.  

"You look now, and they’re talking of course about Hunter Biden’s laptop. They’re in the middle of this Twitter thing that I swear I’ve tried to read through a thousand times and figure out exactly what they’re trying to prove, and if they’re proving anything, what, maybe that Twitter made decisions that they didn’t like," MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said on Monday, briefly alluding to the files. 

The Monday evening newscasts were filled with discussions about Twitter, including criticisms of Musk and the re-release of Twitter Blue. However, the Twitter files never came up on the networks, except a brief reference on NBC News when a reporter discussed how former top Twitter official Yoel Roth was forced to leave his home after receiving death threats. 

Left-wing MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan was the one pundit who offered a full on-air block to the story Sunday, in which he argued that the Twitter files showed no evidence of a company bias against conservatives. 

"Do the Twitter files show evidence of left-wing bias on Twitter?," Hasan asked rhetorically. "No. In fact, the whole Twitter-discriminates-against conservatives-line that Elon or his spin merchants, conservative journalists, like to spout, is literally the opposite of the truth."

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During the segment, Hasan cited an internal review, done by Twitter last year, which claimed that the algorithm promotes right-wing politicians more than left-wing politicians. 

On Dec. 4, the major Sunday shows on ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN devoted a total of seven seconds to the story, prompting Twitter CEO Elon Musk to sound off on the overwhelming silence.

"I think those people should be looking in the mirror and wondering why they were deceptive. Why did they deceive the American public?," Musk asked. "And instead of trying to redirect blame to Matt Taibbi, they should be accepting some responsibility themselves for not being truthful to the American public."

Over the Dec. 2 weekend, MSNBC devoted three minutes of coverage and CNN covered the story for 10 minutes. CNN also covered Musk Monday evening in the context of his criticisms of Dr. Anthony Fauci.

When asked for comment, ABC News, NBC News, CBS News and CNN did not respond to Fox News Digital when asked why they skipped coverage of the Twitter files, if they believe it is important to inform viewers about the story, or whether they plan to cover future reports on internal Twitter documents.

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The fifth installment of Elon Musk's "Twitter Files" Monday revealed that staffers believed that tweets written by former President Trump around the events of Jan. 6 had not actually violated its policies against incitement despite the company saying so at the time.

The Twitter Files began on Dec. 2 with Matt Taibbi revealing internal efforts to suppress the New York Post's Hunter Biden story in 2020.

Bari Weiss reported the second installment of the Twitter Files Thursday which revealed the company "blacklisting" or shadow banning certain tweets and users. 

Parts three and four were dedicated to outlining what led to Trump being removed from Twitter on Jan. 8, 2021. Musk reinstated Trump's Twitter account in November.

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Fox News’ Amy Nelson and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.