'News' Networks Are Ignoring Train Derailment In Conservative Ohio Area
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is not the only subject spreading left-wing talking points instead of noticing the toxic train derailment in Ohio.
So are the news channels.
Legacy media networks ABC, CBS, and NBC have spent less than 30 combined minutes covering the train crash, according to The Daily Wire.
The Media Research Center conducted research from all broadcast coverage between February 4 and February 14.
The outlet found the following:
MRC analysts looked at all broadcast coverage of the East Palestine train derailment between February 4 and February 14. Before the evacuation order was lifted on the evening of February 8, these three networks fell just shy of a combined 30 minutes on the topic. CBS led the pack with 593 seconds (9 min, 53 sec) of airtime, followed by ABC with 571 seconds (9 min, 31 sec) and NBC with 532 seconds (8 min, 52 sec).
However, once East Palestine residents were permitted to return home, the media’s interest in the story evaporated. ABC stopped covering it entirely. NBC gave the story just 38 additional seconds, and CBS was the only network to offer more than a minute of coverage (64 seconds) after the morning of February 8.
The derailment spilled chemicals that threaten the health of millions living in the Ohio River Basin. It's a major story.
The photos are horrific:
A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains, Feb. 6, 2023., via Fox News.
Yet the "news" networks treat the story like a sidebar, as they instead focus on Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, and police brutality.
Like Buttigieg -- who spent his week rallying against the lack of diversity on construction sites -- the national media is unconcerned with atrocities that bedevil Middle America.
Specifically, East Palestine is a village in northeastern Columbiana County, Ohio, a largely conservative area. Some other 72 percent of its residents cast their ballots for President Donald Trump in 2020.
The population in Columbiana County is more than 92 percent white.
ABC, CBS, and NBC do not care about said demographic. They know they cannot change their votes. And they are unwilling to question government agencies about the disaster.
Thereby the catastrophe in Ohio is not of interest to the corporate media. The matter is not an advantageous talking point for this opportunistic group of "news" networks.