NBC was the only network to cover the Christie bridge scandal on Wednesday evening, as CBS and ABC did not deem it newsworthy. In fact, the NBC Nightly News gave far more coverage to the Republican scandal than did the CBS Evening News or the ABC World News.
The Nightly News has devoted almost 27 minutes of coverage to the story in eight days, in nine full segments as NewsBusters' Kyle Drennen reported earlier today. Ironically, the show's former anchor Tom Brokaw remarked on Thursday that Americans are ready for the media to "move on" from the story.
NBC's double standard was egregiously bad on the night and morning of January 13-14, as the Nightly News and Today combined for almost 11 minutes of Christie coverage but just a scant 41 seconds for bad ObamaCare enrollment numbers.
As NewsBusters' Scott Whitlock also reported on January 10, the networks spent 88 minutes on Christie's "Bridge-gate" in less than 48 hours; in contrast, they had given only two minutes to Obama's IRS scandal in the past six months.
Below is a transcript of Thursday's Nightly News brief:
NBC
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
1/15/14
BRIAN WILLIAMS: In New Jersey tonight, the legislature there named a special counsel for the committee that will investigate the George Washington Bridge scandal involving Chris Christie's administration. He is a former assistant U.S. attorney, Reid Schar, and he is the man who prosecuted former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges. In a new national NBC News poll out tonight, 44 percent believe Governor Christie is telling the truth, while 33 percent say he is not. 30 percent now say they view him unfavorably, while 28 percent have a favorable view of the governor.
