ABC and CBS Drop the Ball: Take an Hour to Notice ObamaCare Website Crash
While Monday's NBC Today began its 7 a.m. ET hour coverage of
the ObamaCare enrollment deadline by noting the healthcare.gov website
had crashed yet again, it took an hour for ABC's Good Morning America and CBS This Morning to notice the malfunction and mention it in their reporting. [Listen to the audio]
Good Morning America's initial coverage was particularly
stunning in that it touted how well the website was supposedly working.
Co-host George Stephanopoulos proclaimed: "After all those early problems with the website, the White House now saying things are now back on track." White House correspondent Jon Karl declared: "That's right, George. They
say they saw a huge increase of traffic to the website over the
weekend....And so far, the website seems to be handling it without any
major problems."
On CBS This Morning, White House correspondent Bill Plante
announced: "The administration was very happy to point out over the
weekend that thousands rushed to sign up before tonight's
deadline....The deadline has been extended to cover those who start the
process but can't finish by tonight....If you check a box on
healthcare.gov saying that you tried to sign up but were unable do so
because of technical issues, you get the extension." No mention of the
website suffering from more "technical issues."
At the exact same time on Today, White House correspondent
Peter Alexander was telling viewers: "The healthcare.gov website has
been flooded procrastinators, with two million visits, they say, this
weekend alone. In fact, for some hours this morning, a software bug
actually knocked it offline. Administration officials tell us their tech
team is working to fix it and should have it online as soon as
possible."
ABC and CBS did eventually catch up to NBC. In a news brief at 8:03 a.m. ET on GMA,
news reader Amy Robach reported: "This morning, healthcare.gov has
crashed again amid a surge in traffic." Introducing an 8:04 a.m. ET
segment on ObamaCare, This Morning co-host Gayle King
acknowledged: "This morning, many visitors to healthcare.gov are finding
that the website is down for maintenance. Six million Americans have
signed up after a slow start that was blamed on flaws in that website."
In an 8:03 a.m. ET news brief on Today, news reader Natalie
Morales explained: "Technicians were also working overnight to fix a new
glitch in the enrollment website."
If healthcare.gov had been down for "some hours" and was being fixed
"overnight" as NBC reported, why were ABC and CBS so slow to realize it?
Here is a transcript of Good Morning America's initial March 31 ObamaCare coverage:
7:10 AM ET
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: We're going to go to Washington now and the official deadline for ObamaCare. It's midnight Eastern Time and there has been a last-minute surge of people signing up for health insurance as the clock ticks down.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: ObamaCare Deadline Today; Uninsured Must Sign Up by Midnight]
ABC's Jon Karl has more on where things stand right now. And Jon, after all those early problems with the website, the White House now saying things are now back on track.
JON KARL: That's right, George. They say they saw a huge increase of traffic to the website over the weekend, more than two million visitors. A record number of people calling into the call centers. And they expect today, the final day to sign up before the deadline, to be the biggest day yet. And so far, the website seems to be handling it without any major problems.
They've signed up so far, as of Friday, six million people. Remember, the goal was seven million. Six million, though, is far greater than most people anticipated they would get. And White House officials tell me, George, they believe they are closing in on that seven million goal.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yeah, they think they're getting close. But there's a lot that this overall, this big number, doesn't tell us.
KARL: That's right. There is a lot we don't know. First of all, how many people that have signed up have actually paid? Remember, you aren't actually enrolled into your health plan until you make that first premium payment. We don't know how many people have done that. How many of those who have signed up are young and healthy? That's the most important figure. And finally, how many of those signing up were previously uninsured? And how many of those are simply those who had their old plans canceled?
So, George, even after we get the final numbers, it's going to be a while before we know how well all of this is actually going to work.
STEPHANOPOULOS: It sure will. Okay, Jon, thanks very much.
— Kyle Drennen is Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Kyle Drennen on Twitter.
