CNN devoted five times more coverage to a Republican senator's 2008 corruption trial than they have to current Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez's (N.J.) corruption trial.
In 2008, Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens faced charges he failed to disclose gifts he received from a pipeline and construction company. CNN aired 36 stories about Stevens in the first three weeks of his trial, according to a report from the conservative Media Research Center.
Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, is currently on trial facing charges of corruption, bribery, and fraud. However, in the same three-week period, CNN only aired seven stories on the trial.
Possible reasons for the Menendez trial not being covered more thoroughly, such as a crowded news cycle, don't quite pass the smell test, according to the MRC.
"The Stevens trial in 2008 happened during the heat of a presidential campaign and a once-in-a-generation financial crisis, and CNN found a way to cover that case," the MRC wrote.
The MRC said the implications of both trials were the same. "Both trials threatened to overturn party control of a Senate seat: Stevens lost re-election to a Democrat shortly after his conviction; if Menendez is convicted, Republican Governor Chris Christie will appoint a replacement."
Stevens was eventually found guilty of the charges. Prior to sentencing, an FBI whistleblower revealed that the prosecution had withheld crucial evidence and the conviction was set aside.