The Internet Archive and the Annenberg Public Policy Center are collaborating to help journalists and the public better understand how television news shows present what happens in the 2016 presidential debates in post-debate TV coverage. This includes which exchanges between the candidates get replayed on TV – and which do not get coverage – and how this affects public knowledge about issues from health care to immigration.
- Analyzing how TV news show report on debates. Using the Duplitron, the open source audio fingerprint technology that fuels the Political TV Ad Archive project, the Internet Archive is analyzing which video segments national broadcast and cable news shows choose to highlight in their post-debate reports. Downloadable, detailed metadata will be available on which phrases from the debate get the most airplay on TV news show, broken down by network, program name, and location. This data will reveal which parts of the debate get the most attention and which the least.
- Integrating information on TV news coverage of debates into research surveys. The Annenberg Public Policy Center will integrate information on TV news coverage of the debates from the Internet Archive into research surveys. Both the post-debate coverage on broadcast and cable channels as well as the morning-after coverage on talk shows will be used to better understand how television covers the debates and what voters learn from the coverage of issues such as the economy, healthcare, immigration, and education.
- Providing the researchers and others with near real-time access to shareable video of debates. The Internet Archive will make available a free online archive of the televised debate. The debates digital library will be searchable, include closed captioning, and users can designate short segments for quoting and embedding on social media or embedding them elsewhere online. All such embeds will present link-backs to the relevant segments in the debate library, to ensure context is preserved and assist further research. The Internet Archive will encourage the national fact-checking partners on its Political TV Ad Archive project to use this resource as they fact-check debates in near real-time.
Download the Data
These data reflect TV news coverage of the presidential debates between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, as well as vice presidential candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence.
We generated these matches using the Duplitron, an open source tool created by Dan Schultz, which uses audio fingerprinting to find video matches.
The “raw matches,” file contains our raw data on matches found.
The “frequency timeline,” file contains a running timeline showing which sections — by second– of the debate were covered most by TV news shows.
The “summarized matches” file gives a snapshot of which sections of the debate were covered the most with details about station. Caution: there is a lot of fragmentation between the clips, so use these “coverage counts” as a guideline for what moments are most interesting in the frequency timeline.
Note: the “transcript” column in our files contains the debate transcript from the debate, generated via closed captioning. Because there is drift between the closed captions and the video, it’s best to watch a particular section of video to get the exact wording of the clip. However, the closed captioning serves as a useful guide for what caught the attention of TV news shows.
Note: On November 20, 2016, we updated files originally posted to eliminate a small number of “false positive” matches created when we mistakenly included some re-airings of the debates in our analysis.”
First Debate (Post-debate commentary): September 26, 2016
Data on debate clips aired immediately after the first presidential debate.
First Debate (Cable stations): September 26, 2016
Data on debate clips aired during the 26 hours following the debate, September 26 – 27, 2016. Including CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and more.
First Debate (Local stations): September 26, 2016
Morning: Clips aired in early morning local news programs, on ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox affiliates–in select battleground state markets from 5:00 am to 7:00 am on September 27, 2016.
Full: Clips aired over the 26 hours following the debate by local stations in select battleground state markets.
VP Debate (Post-debate commentary): October 4, 2016
Data on debate clips aired immediately after the vice presidential debate.
VP Debate (Cable stations): October 4, 2016
Data on debate clips aired during the 26 hours following the debate, October 4 – 5, 2016. Including CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and more.
VP Debate (Local stations): October 4, 2016
Morning: Clips aired in early morning local news programs, on ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox affiliates–in select battleground state markets from 5:00 am to 7:00 am on October 5, 2016.
Full: Clips aired over the 26 hours following the debate by local stations in select battleground state markets.
Second Presidential Debate (Post-debate commentary): October 9, 2016
Data on debate clips aired immediately after the second presidential debate
Second Presidential Debate (Cable stations): October 9, 2016
Data on debate clips aired during the 26 hours following the debate, October 9 – 10, 2016. Including CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and more
Second Presidential Debate (Local stations): October 9, 2016
Morning: Clips aired in early morning local news programs, on ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox affiliates–in select battleground state markets from 5:00 am to 7:00 am on October 10, 2016.
Full: Clips aired over the 26 hours following the debate by local stations in select battleground state markets.
Third Presidential Debate (Post-debate commentary): October 19, 2016
Data on debate clips aired immediately after the third presidential debate
Third Presidential Debate (Cable stations): October 19, 2016
Data on debate clips aired during the 26 hours following the debate, October 19 – 20, 2016. Including CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and more
Second Presidential Debate (Local stations): October 9, 2016
Morning: Clips aired in early morning local news programs, on ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox affiliates–in select battleground state markets from 5:00 am to 7:00 am on October 10, 2016.
Full: Clips aired over the 26 hours following the debate by local stations in select battleground state markets.
Special Datasets
Trump Tape Coverage: October 7-9, 2016
Data related to coverage of the Trump Tapes from the breaking news to the beginning of the presidential debate (9:00 EST on Sunday).
