On Thursday and Friday, CBS Evening News and NBC’s Today show both hyped an outrageous demand from the left-wing National School Boards Association (NSBA) that the Biden administration treat parents protesting at school board meetings across the country as acts of “domestic terrorism.” Rather than call out the extreme overreaction, the networks eagerly touted the wild attempt to get the federal government to go after concerned citizens.
“Cry for help. A shocking turn in the fight over vaccine and mask mandates in school,” co-host Savannah Guthrie proclaimed at the top of NBC’s Today show Friday morning. She then parroted the incendiary rhetoric coming from the NSBA, a group loaded with Democratic Party donors: “School boards across the country calling on the White House to send federal agents to protect them from angry parents, saying their protests should be treated as domestic terrorism.”
Minutes later, fellow co-host Hoda Kotb declared: “There are some very shocking images of parents and protesters pushing back and now school boards from coast to coast are demanding help.” The footage that ran on screen showed one individual getting into a scuffle with another man at a school board meeting, the rest of the supposedly “shocking images” were of protesters peacefully holding up signs or chanting.
Referring to the NSBA, Kotb noted: “They want the White House to take urgent action.” Turning to correspondent Gabe Gutierrez, she fretted: “Cannot believe those images, Gabe.” The reporter explained:
Across the country, schools are facing increased violence and threats, stemming in part from people frustrated by mask and vaccine mandates. This morning, the National School Boards Association is calling for federal action, describing the attacks against staff and students as a new form of “domestic terrorism.” The group calling on the Biden administration to provide federal assistance to local law enforcement agencies to monitor and prevent future threats.
Opening Thursday’s CBS Evening News, anchor Norah O’Donnell sounded the alarm: “Threats to school boards. Tonight the stunning request asking for help from the FBI to crack down on unruly behavior from parents because of COVID rules.” While introducing the later report, she hailed: “Well, tonight, the National School Board[s] Association is taking extraordinary action, sending an SOS to the White House and law enforcement.”
Correspondent Jeff Pegues detailed the effort to treat parents of school children like terrorists:
Writing to President Biden, the National School Boards Association asked for help investigating the violent incidents and suggested the FBI monitor threats to board members, likening these “heinous actions” to “domestic terrorism”....Obviously, local police are still going to have a presence at these very contentious, sometimes violent school board meetings, but what school officials nationwide want is for the feds to provide some level of intel that will give them some sense of what kind of threats are heading their way.
These are same networks that repeatedly assured viewers that Black Lives Matter protests that often devolved into destructive riots were “mostly peaceful” and scoffed at the notion of left-wing mob violence throughout 2020.
NBC’s decision to help label parents “terrorists” for speaking out was brought to viewers by Ford, CBS’s similar effort was brought to viewers by Gillette. You can fight back by letting these advertisers know what you think of them sponsoring such content.
Here is a transcript of the October 1 Today show coverage:
7:00 AM ET TEASE:
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Cry for help. A shocking turn in the fight over vaccine and mask mandates in school. School boards across the country calling on the White House to send federal agents to protect them from angry parents, saying their protests should be treated as domestic terrorism.
7:06 AM ET SEGMENT:
HODA KOTB: Now let’s move to the battle against COVID and the fight over vaccine and mask mandates. There are some very shocking images of parents and protesters pushing back and now school boards from coast to coast are demanding help. They want the White House to take urgent action. NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez has more. Cannot believe those images, Gabe.
GABE GUTIERREZ: Yeah, that’s right, Hoda. But first, some breaking details, Merck is out with new data this morning for a new antiviral pill that you take once you start to show symptoms. The company’s data shows a 50% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths. Merck says it plans to file for emergency use authorization as soon as possible. But all this as the battle over vaccine mandates across the country intensifies.
Across the country, schools are facing increased violence and threats, stemming in part from people frustrated by mask and vaccine mandates. This morning, the National School Boards Association is calling for federal action, describing the attacks against staff and students as a new form of “domestic terrorism.” The group calling on the Biden administration to provide federal assistance to local law enforcement agencies to monitor and prevent future threats.
(...)
Here is a transcript of the September 30 CBS Evening News coverage:
6:30 PM ET TEASE:
NORAH O’DONNELL: Threats to school boards. Tonight the stunning request asking for help from the FBI to crack down on unruly behavior from parents because of COVID rules.
6:36 PM ET SEGMENT:
O’DONNELL: Well, tonight, the National School Board Association is taking extraordinary action, sending an SOS to the White House and law enforcement. Members have been berated at meetings and threatened online over COVID safety protocols. Here’s CBS’s Jeff Pegues.
PROTESTERS: No more masks! No more masks!
JEFF PEGUES: School board officials are calling for help tonight.
PROTESTER: You [bleep] cowards!
PEGUES: Following increasingly violent incidents like this in Minnesota, a man complimenting school board members during a debate over masks who is then charged by an unmasked man.Writing to President Biden, the National School Boards Association asked for help investigating the violent incidents and suggested the FBI monitor threats to board members, likening these “heinous actions” to “domestic terrorism.”
CHIP SLAVEN [NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION]: The impact of the pandemic on public schools is creating all this heightened rhetoric around the nation and unfortunately, in some places, it’s leading to threats and actual incidents of violence.
PEGUES: Former Nevada school board member Kurt Thigpen said that he resigned after the constant harassment over email, phone, and social media made him think about suicide. He cited the January 6th insurrection as a trigger for the unruly behavior.
KURT THIGPEN [FORMER WASHOE COUNTY, NV SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER]: They were coming after me and my colleagues consistently every day, through multiple mediums. They saw me as a target for their hate.
PEGUES: The White House responding today to the school board letter, saying that they are looking at what more the administration can do.
JEN PSAKI: And Obviously these threats to school board members is horrible. They're doing their jobs.
PEGUES: Obviously, local police are still going to have a presence at these very contentious, sometimes violent school board meetings, but what school officials nationwide want is for the feds to provide some level of intel that will give them some sense of what kind of threats are heading their way. Norah?
O’DONNELL: Jeff Pegues, thank you.
