As is often the case, the network newscasts will tout a narrative that is friendly to Democrats in power. In this case, that would be the Biden administration. But as is also often the case, the networks will shut down or suppress new information that will contravene that narrative. Such is the case with the ongoing battle between Texas and the Biden Department of Homeland Security over a section of border recently taken over by Texas.
Over the weekend, the story coming out of the border, fabricated by DHS, was that the Texas National Guard had refused dock access to the Border Patrol for purposes of conducting a rescue along the Rio Grande, which resulted in the death of three migrants. As an exemplar of that coverage, here’s how CBS’s Norah O’Donnell framed the story on Monday’s CBS Evening News:
NORAH O’DONNELL: Tonight, the crisis at the southern border has turned into a turf war between Texas and the White House. The Biden administration says three migrants drowned after Texas National Guard members physically blocked federal border agents from attempting to rescue them.
From a narrative standpoint, it’s not much of a heavy lift to go from there to say, reductio ad absurdum, “Greg Abbott killed migrants”. And that’s certainly the way this thing was being set up.
Sunday’s ABC World News Tonight offered:
LINSEY DAVIS: Shocking allegations. Homeland Security claims the Texas National Guard blocked federal agents from trying to rescue three migrants who drowned in the Rio Grande. One congressman says Texas authorities have blood on their hands.
On Sunday’s NBC Nightly News, we got:
KATE SNOW: A migrant woman and two children died trying to cross the Rio Grande into Texas this weekend. The U.S. Border patrol said their agents wanted to save the three people, but Texas authorities would not let them through.
Slightly less ham-fisted, but equally supportive of the narrative.
But then, an explosive filing by Biden’s own Department of Justice, as reported by Fox’s Bill Melugin, which says, in part:
On January 12, 2024, at approximately 9:00 p.m., Mexican officials advised Border Patrol of two migrants in distress on the U.S. side of the river in the area near the Shelby Park boat ramp. App., infra, 2a. Mexican officials also informed Border Patrol that three migrants -- one woman and two children -- has drowned at approximately 8:00 p.m. in the same area.
So the migrants were dead for a full hour BEFORE Border Patrol even requested access to the Shelby Park boat ramp. This is a major deviation from what the networks reported, and yet NONE OF THEM filed corrective items. Melugin tweeted on the DoJ filing before noon on the East Coast, so there was certainly enough time to work these corrections into the evening’s newscasts.
But the narrative was already in the wind. No correction was to be made. In fact, this is reminiscent of another Biden administration hoax involving the Border Patrol: the horse-whipping hoax- which turned out to be totally false. Not content with merely carrying Biden’s water, the media are also hiding inconvenient corrections.
No crying over a lack of trust in the institutions, guys. You did this to yourselves.
