Big Three Nets Omit Corzine's Party ID as Feds Investigate His Firm

On Tuesday, the morning shows of the Big Three networks omitted the party affiliation of Jon Corzine as they reported on the federal investigation into his brokerage firm, something that even the liberal New York Times gave in their coverage of the story. ABC's Good Morning America also failed to include Corzine's name during their news brief on the investigation.

News anchor Josh Elliott noted in a 13-second brief that "a Wall Street brokerage firm run by New Jersey's former governor is filing for bankruptcy. Regulators say some $700 million belonging to MF Global's customers is apparently missing." Apparently, the name of the Democrat's firm is newsworthy at ABC, but his name and his party ID isn't.

On NBC's Today show, Natalie Morales gave Corzine's name right away and detailed that the "the missing money forced MF Global to file for bankruptcy Monday after scuttling a deal to sell part of the company to a rival firm." But she followed her ABC colleague's lead by not revealing the former governor's political affiliation.

While ABC and NBC gave their news briefs on the investigation during the first half hour of their programs, CBS's Early Show waited over an hour to report on the story. However, the program spent the most time on it out of the three - 23 seconds - compared to 13 seconds and 18 seconds respectively for the other two networks, for a total of 54 seconds of coverage. Fill-in news anchor Betty Nguyen didn't give Corzine's party, but she stated that "the New York Times says about $700 million of customer funds had gone missing from MF Global. Regulators want to know if the firm used that money to support its own trades as the firm failed."

The Times devoted a front-page, above-the-fold article on Tuesday to the story, written by Ben Protess, Michael J. de la Merced, and Susanne Craig. Nine paragraphs in, the report noted that "when he [Corzine] arrived at MF Global — after more than a decade in politics, including serving as a Democratic United States senator from New Jersey — Mr. Corzine sought to bolster profits by increasing the number of bets the firm made using its own capital."

The transcripts of the news briefs on the investigation into Jon Corzine on Tuesday's Good Morning America on ABC, The Early Show on CBS, and the Today show on NBC:

ABC's GMA
7:08

JOSH ELLIOTT: And a Wall Street brokerage firm run by New Jersey's former governor is filing for bankruptcy. Regulators say some $700 million belonging to MF Global's customers is apparently missing.

NBC - Today
07:14 am EDT

NATALIE MORALES: A brokerage firm led by former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine is under federal investigation, after regulators discovered hundreds of millions of dollars in customer money missing. The missing money forced MF Global to file for bankruptcy Monday after scuttling a deal to sell part of the company to a rival firm.

CBS - The Early Show
08:04 am EDT

BETTY NGUYEN: A report this morning says the giant brokerage firm MF Global is under a federal investigation. It filed for bankruptcy yesterday. The firm is run by former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, and the New York Times says about $700 million of customer funds had gone missing from MF Global. Regulators want to know if the firm used that money to support its own trades as the firm failed.