On Friday, the three network evening newscasts covered the verbal beating Education Secretary Betsy DeVos took hours earlier as she was physically blocked from entering a Washington D.C. public school by protesters. However, each catered to the far-left protesters, emphasizing how DeVos is a “controversial” “billionaire who has promoted charter schools.”
“Also tonight, the high drama. The controversial Education Secretary and the protesters blocking her today as town halls now erupt in anger across this country,” ABC’s World News Tonight anchor David Muir hyped in a tease.
Later in the newscast, Muir reupped the “high drama” label and touted the “[a]nger boiling over, protesters there to greet her.”
Despite the reality that parents have plenty of leeway in whether they school children in public or private schools (or home schools), Muir hyped Democratic concerns that she “told Senators on Capitol Hill she never went to public school nor did her children.”
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Capitol Hill correspondent Mary Bruce then continued spinning for DeVos critics:
MARY BRUCE: A rough start for new education secretary, Betsy DeVos. Protesters physically blocking her way as she tries to enter a D.C. Public School. A security agent escorting her back to her car.
DEVOS PROTESTER #2: Shame! Shame! Shame!
BRUCE: DeVos is one of President Trump's most controversial cabinet picks, confirmed by the Senate only after the Vice President cast a historic tie-breaking vote. She's been criticized for never attending public school or teaching at one, but she's not the only one feeling heat.
To Bruce’s credit, she was the lone network reporter to mention how a DeVos predecessor in Arne Duncan from the Obama administration tweeted to condemn the protesters.
Meanwhile, CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley dedicated 26 seconds to the DeVos story, accompanied by the chyron “Bullied at School.”
“Education Secretary Betsy DeVos faced critics at a Washington D.C. middle school today. She was met by protesters who blocked the door, forcing her back to her car. The Secretary eventually made it inside,” Pelley began.
Those three sentences seemed harmless, but the last sentence followed ABC in providing an opening for viewers to sympathize with those who berated and chased DeVos back to her motorcade: “DeVos is a billionaire who has promoted charter schools, putting her at odds with teachers unions, which worry that there will be less money for public schools.”
NBC Nightly News dedicated the least amount of time to DeVos, giving it only a handful of seconds. White House correspondent Hallie Jackson reported that DeVos was “physically blocked from a D.C. Public School today” as an example of how there’s “unsettling signs of anger at his administration” which “are boiling over.”
Here’s the relevant portions of the transcript from ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir on February 10:
ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir
February 10, 2017
6:30 p.m. Eastern [TEASE]
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: High Drama]
DAVID MUIR: Also tonight, the high drama. The controversial Education Secretary and the protesters blocking her today as town halls now erupt in anger across this country.
(....)
6:38 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Angry Backlash]
MUIR: There was also high drama as President Trump's Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a controversial pick who barely got through, made her first official visit to a public school. Anger boiling over, protesters there to greet her. Democrats had been critical of DeVos, who told Senators on Capitol Hill she never went to public school nor did her children. There was also anger boiling over at town halls across this country. One member of Congress, even forced to cancel his town hall meeting. ABC’s Mary Bruce with the images tonight.
DEVOS PROTESTER #1: You do not represent anything we stand for!
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News; Angry Backlash; Protesters Block DeVos at First Public School Visit]
MARY BRUCE: A rough start for new education secretary, Betsy DeVos. Protesters physically blocking her way as she tries to enter a D.C. Public School. A security agent escorting her back to her car.
DEVOS PROTESTER #2: Shame! Shame! Shame!
BRUCE: DeVos is one of President Trump's most controversial cabinet picks, confirmed by the Senate only after the Vice President cast a historic tie-breaking vote. She's been criticized for never attending public school or teaching at one, but she's not the only one feeling heat.
(....)
MUIR: Let’s get to Mary Bruce live tonight and, Mary, Education Secretary Devos did finally make it into the school.
BRUCE: DeVos did finally get inside, meeting with school administrators. Now, she says she respects peaceful protests, but will not be deterred and now, one of her predecessors, Obama's education secretary, tweeting: “Agree or disagree with Betsy DeVos. Let’s all agree she really needs to be in public schools. Please let her in.”
