While all three big three broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) have covered the widespread cases of social services fraud among Minnesota’s Somali community, the frequency and thoroughness of the coverage has varied widely depending on the network. Before December 29, CBS was the only network to have aired even a single full-length report about the scandal, and as of this study’s publishing, ABC hasn’t touched the story outside of a single offhand mention on December 3.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
- ABC's World News Tonight has done no journalistic work on this scandal whatsoever; it was discussed just once on December 3 for 25 seconds, and since then they have spent almost five times more airtime portraying Minnesota's Somalian population as the victims of this story.
- NBC Nightly News largely avoided the story until independent journalist Nick Shirley's video investigating apparent childcare fraud in Minnesota garnered over 100 million views online. Virtually all of the details reported on Nightly News were broken by other journalists or outlets, which suggests the network has committed few if any investigative resources to this scandal.
- CBS Evening News is the only broadcast network which has reported on this story consistently, airing three dedicated reports and several other smaller mentions for a total of eight minutes and 16 seconds of coverage since December 2.
MRC analysts examined every December, 2025 edition of the big three broadcast networks’ flagship evening newscasts for any discussion of the Minnesota social services fraud scandal. As of the morning of December 30, ABC has spent less than half a minute on the story, with all of their coverage limited to a single 25-second mention during a December 3 report.
Before December 29, NBC’s total coverage amounted to 65 seconds across three different broadcasts. This changed dramatically on Monday evening when Nightly News finally aired its first full-length report about the scandal. The network’s hand appears to have been forced by the investigative work of journalist Nick Shirley, whose video about the scandal released in late December has garnered over 100 million views online. NBC’s two-minute December 29 report was almost entirely a recycled summary of Shirley’s own reporting.
CBS far outperformed its counterparts, granting more than eight minutes of airtime (496 seconds) to the scandal, including three full-length reports on December 3, December 11, and December 29. CBS remains the only of the three networks to report on the sheer extent of the fraud, which investigators estimated at $9,000,000,000.
ABC spent significantly more time attempting to defend the Somali population in Minnesota, including worrying about ICE raids sowing “fear” in that community, and balking at President Trump’s harsh criticism of Minnesota’s Somali population during a cabinet meeting. ABC’s vicarious outrage on behalf of Somali immigrants outpaced their coverage of the widespread fraud by almost five to one (122 seconds vs 25 seconds).
Before December 29, NBC’s sympathetic framing of Somalians in Minnesota got over twice as much airtime as the scandal (148 seconds vs 65 seconds). However, since the Nightly News report about Shirley’s investigation, their coverage of the fraud has since reached 197 seconds.
While CBS Evening News co-anchors John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois routinely adopted this same Somalians-as-the-real-victims framing, the detailed reporting by Jonah Kaplan instead focused primarily on the scandal itself. As a result, CBS was the only network to offer more coverage of the actual fraud allegations than the resulting backlash against the alleged perpetrators (496 seconds vs 103 seconds).
While NBC’s sudden interest in this scandal is a positive development, it’s likely they would not have paid it nearly as much attention if not for the work of independent journalists like Nick Shirley.
CBS deserves credit for consistently giving this story its due. In fact, correspondent Jonah Kaplan is the only broadcast reporter who appears to have done real investigative work on this topic, given he’s uncovered and broken new details about the scandal, rather than simply rehashing the work of others.
ABC, meanwhile, remains the most journalistically bankrupt of the three big broadcast networks. As of December 30, anyone who primarily relies on World News Tonight for their news likely has no idea that anything is going on in Minnesota at all – aside from heavy snowfall, which anchor David Muir is always eager to discuss.
