Fox backs off Women’s March coverage ... for Trump at church

CNN, MSNBC and Fox News were all dinged by many viewers for choosing to open their Saturday morning coverage with footage of newly minted US President Donald Trump at the National Prayer Service rather than the estimated 500,000 marchers.

But whereas by midmorning CNN and MSNBC had turned their multi-screened attention to the throngs of protesters, Fox, which had drawn a tweet of praise from the president for its coverage of the inauguration, continued to do just that.

Showing shots of the White House, Fox recapped the previous day’s events, discussed the swearing-in of the secretary of Defence and reported on the Trump family’s bowling in their new Pennsylvania Avenue home.

As the day wore on and millions marched and rallied around the country, commentators at MSNBC and CNN repeatedly expressed surprise at the number of people involved and invited a wide range of conversation about what such an event could mean for the country.

For hours, cameras swooped from on high to capture the sprawling crowds in Washington and other cities while coverage of high-profile speakers including Gloria Steinem, Michael Moore and Senator Elizabeth Warren was interspersed with conversations about issues of inclusion — the march’s stated platform in favour of abortion rights left many women feeling uninvited — the apathy of voters in the recent election, and whether it was fair to demonstrate against a president who had just taken office.