MSNBC, Fox take Obamacare; CNN, Al Jazeera take typhoon

A new Pew Research Center study shows that programming on the different cable news channels was divided by the ongoing troubles with Obamacare and the natural disaster in the Philippines.

The study looked at MSNBC, Fox News, CNN and Al Jazeera America from Nov. 11-15, one hour of daytime programming each day and three hours of primetime:

The two channels with strong ideological identities in prime-time—liberal MSBNC and conservative Fox News—spent far more time on the politically-charged health insurance story than the overseas disaster. And the two organizations that built a brand on global reporting—CNN and Al Jazeera America, an offshoot of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera media network—spent considerably more time on the tragedy in the Philippines. ...

CNN had the closest balance between the two stories, spending slightly more than three-and-a-half hours on Obamacare and just under five hours on the typhoon. The fledgling Al Jazeera America network devoted three hours and 10 minutes to the typhoon, more than twice as much airtime as health insurance commanded (one-and-a-half hours).