Higher Ed and the Tale of Two News Feeds: How TV Coverage Diverged, 2004–2025

# What this story shows

# The raw counts Between 2004 and 2025 there were 517 unique evening-news segments about higher education across ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox. Distribution highlights:

• Fox News aired 206 segments — about 40% of the total.
• ABC, CBS and NBC combined aired 210 segments.
• CNN aired 101 segments.

The analysis notes format differences (broadcast evening news typically lasts 30 minutes, cable channels run hourlong shows), but even accounting for format length Fox still devoted far more attention to higher education than CNN.

# Tone and framing: what the sentiment analysis found The authors used a simple, replicable approach to classify segments as positive, neutral or negative. They defined negative coverage as segments that framed higher education around problems such as tuition burdens, deceptive for-profit practices, or campus unrest. Positive coverage focused on accomplishments or constructive adaptation. Neutral coverage described events or policy changes without evaluative language.

• CNN had the smallest share of negative coverage (around 27%) and more than half of its higher-ed segments were neutral.
• The broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) tended to be more neutral than negative on higher-education topics.

All 517 transcripts were reviewed to confirm classifications, and the authors are publishing their data and methods for transparency.

# Why this matters for public opinion The piece connects two facts: American views of higher education have shifted in recent years, and the information environment has fragmented. The analysis argues that where people get their news affects the stories they see about colleges and universities. When one network supplies a disproportionately large share of coverage and that coverage is more negative, audiences of that network are more likely to encounter a steady stream of critical stories about higher education.

# What the authors did and did not claim The authors do not claim press praise is owed to colleges. They note some criticism is justified. Their contribution is empirical: a content and sentiment analysis of evening-news transcripts that documents differing volume and tone across networks and points to an information-fragmentation dynamic worth considering when discussing public trust in higher education.

# Practical takeaways for readers

• The authors have made their dataset and methods public, enabling others to inspect or extend the analysis.