Thanks to the 24-hour news cycle, a nonsensical or unimportant story need only capture the attention of a few journalists in order for it to receive an absurdly disproportionate amount of coverage. Such is the case with the algae-riddled Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool on TV news, which over the past week, has gobbled up nearly seven hours of airtime on liberal cable (CNN and MS NOW) and broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC).
MRC analysts looked at all reflecting pool coverage on major left-wing cable and broadcast networks between June 14 and June 22, 2026. In just that nine-day period, the story received 411 minutes and 38 seconds of coverage, or an average of over 45 minutes per day.
For whatever reason, CNN was uniquely obsessed with the condition of the reflecting pool, racking up a whopping 215 minutes and 37 seconds of coverage in under ten days. In just the past week, CNN dedicated 207 minutes and 45 seconds solely to the reflecting pool — approximately 30 minutes per day.
The seriousness of the CNN’s reporting varied wildly, spanning from embarrassingly earnest to dripping with sarcasm. On one end of the spectrum was correspondent Sunlen Serfaty, who was conducting on-site “investigations” into the water’s phosphate levels without a hint of detectable irony. On the other end of things was a thoroughly amused John Berman, the co-anchor for CNN News Central, who provided viewers with routine tongue-in-cheek updates:
Despite being a distant second behind CNN, MS NOW still spent an absurd 160 minutes and 51 seconds on the pool. As with CNN, most of the progressive cable network’s algae obsession came during the past week, for an average of just over 22 minutes per day.
While broadcast networks ran a combined 35 minutes and 10 seconds of coverage, that total looks smaller than it actually is. ABC, CBS, and NBC only air two and a half hours’ worth of straight news each day, as compared to the standard 19 hours on CNN and MS NOW. In cable news hours, those 35 minutes are equivalent to 267 minutes and 16 seconds, which is even more coverage than CNN aired.
CBS was by far the most interested in the story, with a total of 15 minutes and 10 seconds spent discussing the reflecting pool renovations. ABC’s algae coverage reached 10 minutes and 32 seconds, while NBC brought up the rear with a still-sizable 9 minutes and 28 seconds of airtime.
With numbers this big, the number of comparisons one could make are endless. One particularly alarming contrast that comes to mind, however, is the UK rape gang report published last week, which found that over 250,000 young British girls had been sexually abused by gangs of primarily Pakistani Muslim men. As of this piece’s publishing, that report still has yet to receive a single second of airtime on any of the left-wing cable or broadcast networks.
Going purely by the numbers, algae in the reflecting pool is quite literally infinitely more important to the American news media.
Thanks to Curtis Houck and Alex Christy for their help with this report.
