Major US broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) largely avoided the Minnesota “Feeding Our Future” fraud story in their national evening newscasts for some time, particularly in their early coverage.
Here is a breakdown of the Limited National Broadcast Coverage:
Sources like Fox News and the Media Research Center indicate that major networks initially gave the story minimal attention, focusing instead on related political comments made by Trump.
Local and Independent Reporting: The story was covered by local Minnesota media outlets, and independent journalists and social media figures like Nick Shirley were instrumental in pushing the scandal into the national conversation.
Increased Coverage After Federal Action and Trump’s Comments: After federal indictments forced the scandal into the spotlight, and especially after President Trump’s comments on the Somali community in Minnesota, the story gained significantly more traction in national news outlets, including CNN and MSNBC.
Reasons for Hesitation: Some conservative reporters claimed that internal newsroom roadblocks, stemming from fears of being accused of racism, initially hindered early coverage of the scandal.
While national broadcast networks were slow to cover the story in depth, it was reported on by local and independent media, and has since become a major point of political debate and is widely covered.
The New York Times was among the first national outlets to report the details of the fraud.
Apparently some folks like that woman in Minnesota just don’t understand the situation. There was a federal official trying to uphold the law while she was determined that he would not uphold it.