Yeah, TV news gets less eyeballs when it’s not a Presidential election year.
https://www.ft.com/content/85241de6-981c-433a-9ab8-6518021d0...
Trump was a bigger bump and a bigger hangover, but it’s a known pattern.
Which is my real “big media conspiracy”, which is barely a conspiracy: it’s hard to imagine substantial electoral when TV news is so dependent on this election year gusher of money. Especially at the local TV news level.