In recent years, Georgia has become something of a second home for Hollywood as the state has opened itself up to filmmakers. But ever since the state took a stand to defend the lives of the unborn, the liberal elites on the other side of the country have demanded Georgia bend to their will or face a boycott. The CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News not only hyped the boycott Thursday, but they also touted that their parent companies might join in.
NBC actually put off covering the on-going tornado threats across the Midwest and East Coast to first panic about the spread of pro-life laws. “And tonight, the battle over abortion is being waged more intensely than it has been in decades and on multiple fronts. Missouri is now poised to be the first state in the nation without an abortion clinic,” fill-in anchor Savannah Guthrie fretted at the top of the program.
Towards the end of the report, correspondent Anne Thompson touted how “a similar law in Georgia may cost it lucrative film business.” She then boasted about how “NBCUniversal, Netflix, and Disney all weighing the impact and possibly pulling production from the state.”
She also shared a soundbite of Disney CEO Bob Iger making the argument for leaving Georgia behind. “Many people who work for us will not want to work there and we'll have to heed their wishes in that regard,” he said.
Disney owns ABC News, which means they too were wrapped up in the boycott. But unlike their broadcast competitors, they didn’t gloat about their involvement Thursday evening. And as The Daily Caller's Peter Hasson pointed out Thursday night, Disney has no problem cracking down on Georgia but has no problem partnering with communist China, which currently is putting Muslims in internment camps:
Disney opened a $5.5 billion resort in Shanghai, China, in 2016. Iger called Shanghai Disney the company’s “greatest opportunity since buying land in Florida.” Disney partnered with a state-owned media company, Shanghai Shendi Group, for the resort.
(...)
Chinese authorities in 2018 “dramatically stepped up repression and systematic abuses against the 13 million Turkic Muslims, including Uyghurs and ethnic Kazakhs, in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region,” Human Rights Watch noted in its annual report on China.
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Chinese authorities in March implied it would not cease operating its internment camps until the country has no more Muslims to put in the camps.
“Unexpected consequences of this divisive issue,” Thompson mocked as she wrapped up the segment.
The CBS version came in the form of a news brief from fill-in anchor and Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan:
More backlash tonight over Georgia's new abortion law. CBS, Sony, Disney, Warner media, and NBCUniversal have joined Netflix in saying they may stop production in Georgia. The law would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, that's as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
Now, since all three of the broadcast networks and Warner Media are toeing the liberal line and essentially protesting against pro-life laws, will CNN join them and move out of Atlanta?
The transcripts are below click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening News
May 30, 2019
6:52:55 p.m. EasternMARGARET BRENNAN: More backlash tonight over Georgia's new abortion law. CBS, Sony, Disney, Warner media, and NBCUniversal have joined Netflix in saying they may stop production in Georgia. The law would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, that's as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
NBC Nightly News
May 30, 2019
7:01:43 p.m. EasternSAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Good evening I'm Savannah Guthrie in for Lester. And tonight, the battle over abortion is being waged more intensely than it has been in decades and on multiple fronts. Missouri is now poised to be the first state in the nation without an abortion clinic. Protests are erupting again tonight in the wake of strict new abortion measures passed in the south. One more signed into law just today and we're starting to see the fallout. We begin tonight with NBC's Anne Thompson.
[Cuts to video]
ANNE THOMPSON: Supporters of abortion rights taking to the streets of St. Louis.
MALE PROTESTERS: Our abortion rights are here to stay.
THOMPSON: Some arrested after a sit-in waiting for a federal judge's ruling on the license renewal of Missouri's only abortion clinic. Unrelated to the state's new law banning abortion after eight weeks.
M’EVIE MEAD [Director of Planned Parenthood Advocates in Missouri]: We do not want to be the first state in the nation to lose access to safe, legal abortion. And that is what this state is trying to do and we saw that in court today.
THOMPSON: Planned Parenthood argued the state's health department keeps moving the goalpost in an effort to shut down its abortion services. Governor Mike Parson said yesterday the state is just doing its job.
GOV. MIKE PARSON: This is not an issue about the pro-life issue at all. This is about a standard of care for women in the state of Missouri.
THOMPSON: More protests in Louisiana today as it officially became the latest state to outlaw abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE LOUISIANAN LAWMAKER: Do we value the life of an unborn baby?
THOMPSON: A similar law in Georgia may cost it lucrative film business. NBCUniversal, Netflix, and Disney all weighing the impact and possibly pulling production from the state.
BOB IGER: Many people who work for us will not want to work there and we'll have to heed their wishes in that regard.
PROTESTERS: Fight back. Stand up.
THOMPSON: Unexpected consequences of this divisive issue. Anne Thompson, NBC News.
