ABC News continued its tendency to ignore (or almost ignore) the controversy over Vice President Kamala Harris waiting for more than 90 days to visit the border after being handed the border "issue" by President Biden. On Friday night's newscast, David Muir offered just 13 seconds to the story. It's 43 boring words. Blink, and you might miss it.
ABC offered a paltry 13 SECONDS to VP Kamala Harris's trip to El Paso, 21 minutes into the show. Anchor David Muir is so bland here, you'd wonder why it mattered. pic.twitter.com/0H74bLjSpu
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) June 26, 2021
DAVID MUIR: And Vice President Kamala Harris making her first trip to the southern border today, visiting a border patrol facility in El Paso, standing by her decision to visit Guatemala and Mexico first. Saying we must, as a country, address the root causes of migration.
The word "illegal" is nowhere to be found. The PBS NewsHour disposed of the matter in 58 seconds in its "news wrap." Anchor Judy Woodruff reported "Vice President Harris visited the U.S. Southern border today for the first time since taking office. She is overseeing the migrant issue, and has drawn criticism for not going to the border sooner. Today, she toured a Border Patrol facility in El Paso, Texas. Later, she argued that the problem are about much more than politics."
PBS had a weird soundbite of Harris opposing "finger-pointing," as if that never happened under Trump. Again there was only a "migrant issue," not a crisis, although Woodruff reported "arrests" were at the highest level since 2000. That would suggest something illegal.
Crisis? What crisis? The PBS @NewsHour disposed of Kamala's El Paso trip in less than a minute, including a weird clip of the VP opposing "finger-pointing" on what PBS called "the migrant issue." Like they never did that under Trump. pic.twitter.com/a4ig1CZbgb
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) June 26, 2021
CBS and NBC both gave about two minutes to the El Paso trip. CBS was the only one to offer a Republican soundbite, and even House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy skipped the word "illegal," referring to half a million "encounters" at the border since Harris was handed the immigration crisis.
The CBS Evening News offered a 2-minute report on the Veep's visit to El Paso. Nancy Cordes noted criticism of Team Harris picking El Paso, not a hot spot for illegal border crossings. Even GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy used weasel words, citing "more than half a million ENCOUNTERS." pic.twitter.com/9EppS7me1G
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) June 26, 2021
In a report about 10 seconds shy of two minutes, NBC's Kelly O'Donnell noted there was "bipartisan" criticism of Harris on the "record migrant surge," and NBC ran a Fox News soundbite from Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar. NBC also replayed her clip laughing at Lester Holt's question about going to the border, saying she also hadn't been to Europe.
NBC's almost-2-minute report on the Veep trip to El Paso quoted a critical Texas Democrat, underlined the politics of the visit -- a potential reaction to Trump visiting -- and re-ran Kamala laughing at Lester Holt's border questions, saying she also hadn't been to Europe. pic.twitter.com/5kte0E1lq1
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) June 26, 2021
O'Donnell concluded: "Her trip today announced after former president Trump said he would visit the border next week. The vice president spent about four hours on the ground here today, three months after the president put her in charge of looking at migration."
