All of the networks in the big three could not wait to join in on US Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s beat down of North Carolina. Only the tornado outbreak in Oklahoma could keep them from jumping in immediately. “In her view, this is the new Jim Crow,” ABC reporter Steve Osunsami said of Lynch’s reasoning for taking the state to court.
NBC’s Pete Williams echoed Osunsami conjuring the specter of southern segregation of public spaces like fountains and bathrooms. “It wasn't so long ago, she said, that restroom signs in the state kept some people out for no good reason,” Williams said leading into a clip of Lynch proclaiming that America should “write a different story this time.” The comparison to Jim Crow was juxtaposed with Osunsami reporting that Governor Pat McCrory was standing in defiance of Lynch, “Two hours earlier, North Carolina's governor stood before cameras refusing to back down.”
NBC overly simplified McCrory’s position and reason he chose to sue the federal government and defend the law. Williams made it seem as though the state was trying to exploit a loop hole in order to discriminate against transgendered people, “Civil rights law, he says, does not outlaw discrimination based on someone's transgender status.”
All three of the networks were absolutely giddy to report how the state’s economy has suffered since the law was enacted. “By one estimate, HB2 could cost the state more than $4.8 billion in federal funding,” CBS’ Omar Villafranca stated. And Williams reported that, “The state's economy is already paying a price for standing by the law, losing an estimated $200 million in income from canceled events.” ABC also reported that the NCAA has plans to move competitions out of the state.
ABC and NBC both fueled speculations that the federal government would withhold funding from the North Carolina state university system, effectivity causing a crisis. “The federal government could still play another card and refusing to give federal dollars to University of North Carolina and state police,” Osunsami said closing out his report.