NBC Stacks Deck Against Wal-Mart

Ken Shepherd

February 27, 2006 - 2:00pm

     The February 26 NBC Nightly News treated a move by Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT [1]) to expand health care benefits as an opportunity to stack the deck with another attack on the retail chain and a liberal plea for universal health care.

     For years Wal-Mart has been targeted by critics who claim the nations largest private retailer offers substandard benefits. Today the company announced it would expand its benefits, correspondent Pat Dawson said, introducing a sound bite from Wal-Marts CEO.

     But the move by Wal-Mart didnt satisfy the NBC correspondent, who aired only the left-leaning talking points of Wal-Mart critics: Andrew Grossman of the union-backed Wal-Mart Watch; Gov. Phil Bredesen (D-Tenn.); and Peter Morici, an economist from the University of Maryland.

     The real problem is we lack a universal approach to providing health care for low-wage workers, Morici complained.

     Moments before Moricis comments, Dawson told viewers that Wal-Marts move to increase health benefits was welcomed by Wal-Mart critics to lessen the cost of government health care. States have acted because so many Wal-Mart employees, especially part-timers, are forced to rely on Medicaid or other state-subsidized health programs, Dawson continued, cueing Bredesen to say that forcing Wal-Mart to extend health benefits takes a huge burden off of our state.

     But while Dawson gave air time to liberals advocating government solutions either government-controlled health care or government mandates on private businesses he ignored free-market critics of both approaches. He failed to include supporters of market-based initiatives like health savings accounts or defenders of The High Benefit of Low Prices, like Frostburg State University economist William L. Anderson [2].

     Dawsons unbalanced report is just the latest example of the medias ongoing attack on Wal-Mart, recently documented by the Business & Media Institute [3].

Publication: News [4]

Division: MRC Business [5]

Tags: jobs [6], softdrink [7], Soda [8], Labor [9], Union [10], WallStreetJournal [11], AlGore [12], CurrentTV [13], Smoking [14], economy [15], GasHysteria [16], Drugs [17], autism [18], HousingBubble [19], oil [20], gas [21], RecordPrice [22], Kyoto [23], FannieMae [24], Advisors [25], USAToday [26], NewYorkTimes [27], WashingtonPost [28], CSPI [29], consumerconfidence [30], Insourcing [31], outsourcing [32], China [33], LouDobbs [34], TradeSecrets [35], Live8 [36], BalanceSheet [37], SupersizedBias [38], MediaMalpractice [39], personalaccounts [40], GasPrices [41], biasedaccounts [42], MorganSpurlock [43], obesity [44], Mercury [45], Tax&Spin [46], FairTax [47], Wal-Mart [48], FX [49], DiscoveryChannel [50], NBC [51], abc [52], cbs [53], SocialSecurity [54], runawaylitigation [55], GlobalWarming [56], ClimateChange [57], CharlesSimpson [58], AmyMenefee [59], DanGainor [60], HermanCain [61], news [62], MediaRealityCheck [63], FreeMarket [64], videos [65], taxes [66], newsbias [67], networknews [68], mediawatchdog [69], lbrentbozell [70], bozell [71], BrentBozell [72], LiberalBias [73], MediaResearchCenter [74], Cyberalert [75], MediaBias [76], bias [77], media [78], conservative [79], BusinessandMediaInstitute [80], Employment [81]

Links:
[1] http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=WMT
[2] http://www.mdpolicy.org/research/pubID.95/pub_detail.asp
[3] http://www.businessandmedia.org/news/2006/news20060222.asp
[4] http://archive2.mrc.org/news
[5] http://archive2.mrc.org/division/mrc-business
[6] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/jobs
[7] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/softdrink
[8] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/soda
[9] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/labor
[10] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/union
[11] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/wallstreetjournal
[12] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/algore-0
[13] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/currenttv
[14] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/smoking
[15] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/economy
[16] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/gashysteria
[17] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/drugs
[18] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/autism
[19] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/housingbubble
[20] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/oil
[21] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/gas
[22] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/recordprice
[23] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/kyoto
[24] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/fanniemae
[25] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/advisors
[26] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/usatoday
[27] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/newyorktimes
[28] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/washingtonpost
[29] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/cspi
[30] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/consumerconfidence-0
[31] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/insourcing
[32] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/outsourcing
[33] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/china
[34] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/loudobbs
[35] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/tradesecrets
[36] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/live8
[37] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/balancesheet
[38] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/supersizedbias
[39] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediamalpractice
[40] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/personalaccounts
[41] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/gasprices
[42] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/biasedaccounts
[43] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/morganspurlock
[44] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/obesity
[45] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mercury
[46] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/taxspin
[47] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/fairtax
[48] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/wal-mart
[49] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/fx
[50] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/discoverychannel
[51] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/nbc
[52] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/abc
[53] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/cbs
[54] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/socialsecurity
[55] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/runawaylitigation
[56] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/globalwarming
[57] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/climatechange
[58] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/charlessimpson
[59] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/amymenefee
[60] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/dangainor
[61] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/hermancain
[62] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/news
[63] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediarealitycheck
[64] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/freemarket
[65] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/videos
[66] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/taxes
[67] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/newsbias
[68] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/networknews
[69] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediawatchdog
[70] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/lbrentbozell-0
[71] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/bozell
[72] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/brentbozell
[73] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/liberalbias-0
[74] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediaresearchcenter
[75] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/cyberalert
[76] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediabias
[77] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/bias
[78] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/media
[79] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/conservative
[80] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/businessandmediainstitute-0
[81] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/employment
[82] http://www.tellthetruth2012.org