ABC, CBS Ignore SCOTUS Ruling Against Unions and New V.A. Chief Nomination
On Monday, the Supreme Court dealt a blow to labor unions seeking to obtain more control over public employees who do not want to join the union. Despite the setback for union bosses, NBC Nightly News was the only network evening news broadcast to cover the ruling on Monday evening.
In addition, President Obama nominated Robert McDonald to be the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs and fix the troubled agency yet ABC’s World News with Diane Sawyer and the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley were nowhere to be found on this story either.
Pete Williams, NBC’s Justice Correspondent highlighted how “the court dealt something of a setback to labor unions that represent government employees...The court said government workers who care for people at home and don’t join the union do not have to pay union fees.”
Regarding the V.A. scandal, anchor Brian Williams noted:
President Obama today nominated a veteran of the military and business to become the next Secretary of Veteran Affairs. He's Robert McDonald, a West Point graduate who became an airborne Army Ranger. More recently was CEO of Proctor & Gamble. After a life in the consumer products business, he now takes over a VA hounded by the scandal involving treatment delays at VA hospitals.
Rather than cover either story, the CBS Evening News found time to report on Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s return to work following a stint in rehab. ABC’s World News with Diane Sawyer ignored both the VA scandal and the SCOTUS ruling against unions but ran a full report on 4-D technology potentially coming to movie theaters in the near future.
See relevant transcripts below.
NBC Nightly News
June 30, 2014
PETE WILLIAMS: The court today also dealt something of a setback to labor unions that represent government employees. Today's ruling does not apply to full-time public employees, like teachers, firefighters and police. But the court said government workers who care for people at home and don't join the union do not have to pay union fees. Opponents of public sector unions were hoping the court would go further. Still, today’s ruling, another 5-4 vote does chip away at the power of public sector unions.
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BRIAN WILLIAMS: President Obama today nominated a veteran of the military and business to become the next Secretary of Veteran Affairs. He's Robert McDonald, a West Point graduate who became an airborne Army Ranger. More recently was CEO of Proctor & Gamble. After a life in the consumer products business, he now takes over a VA hounded by the scandal involving treatment delays at VA hospitals.
— Jeffrey Meyer is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Jeffrey Meyer on Twitter.
