Media Matters searched transcripts in the Kinetiq database for all original programming on CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC as well as all original episodes for ABC’s World News Tonight, CBS’ Evening News and Weekend News, NBC’s Nightly News, and PBS’ NewsHour for any of the terms “Trump,” “Lighthizer,” “adviser,” or “advisers” within 20 words of any of the terms “currency,” “dollar,” “devalue,” “inflation,” “inflationary,” “trade,” “export,” or “exports” from April 15, 2024, when Politico first reported on Lighthizer’s plan to devalue the U.S. dollar, through April 29, 2024.
We timed segments, which we defined as instances when Lighthizer’s reported plan to devalue the U.S. dollar was the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of the plan. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a segment discussed Lighthizer’s plan with one another.
We also timed mentions, which we defined as instances when a single speaker in a segment on another topic mentioned Lighthizer’s reported plan to devalue the U.S. dollar without another speaker engaging with the comment, and teasers, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host promoted a segment about the plan scheduled to air later in the broadcast.
We rounded all times to the nearest minute.