Politics

ABC, NBC Ignore WV Governor’s Party Switch

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Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
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West Virginia governor Jim Justice announced Thursday that he is switching his party registration to Republican, but ABC and NBC ignored the major news.

Justice’s announcement was teased throughout the day and ultimately came true during a Trump rally in Huntington, West Virginia.

“Today, I will tell you, with lots of prayers and lots of thinking, today I tell you as West Virginians, I can’t help you anymore being a Democrat governor,” Justice said. “So tomorrow, I will be changing my registration to Republican.”

Not only is it incredibly rare for a sitting governor to change their party affiliation, but the switch means Republicans will now hold 34 governorships, the highest amount since 1922.

But ABC’s “World News Tonight” and “NBC Nightly News” chose not to cover the story at all, according to the Media Research Center. 

CBS was the only big-three broadcast network to cover the news, and even then only gave the story a measly 13 seconds.

“The President is promising a big announcement at a rally this evening in West Virginia. Spoiler alert: The news is the governor of West Virginia is switching parties. Democrat Jim Justice is becoming a Republican,” said anchor Anthony Mason on CBS.

Instead of covering Justice’s switch, ABC and NBC thought it more important to share a list of the most stolen car models and details of a Boeing test flight, respectively.

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