[More in the cross-post on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.]
ABC's World News on 27 June 2014 glossed over the release of Deputy White House Chief of Staff Rob Nabors's report on the scandal at the Veterans Administration. President Obama had sent Nabors to look into the long wait times at veterans hospitals nationwide. Instead, the evening newscast set aside almost two minutes of air time to a woman who is eight months pregnant competing in a track and field competition.
On CBS Evening News, Scott Pelley led the broadcast with the "bleak picture" detailed in the new report. Correspondent Wyatt Andrews spotlighted how Nabors "combined scathing criticism with ideas on moving the V.A. forward." Brian Williams used the same label as Andrews during his 24-second news brief about the story on NBC Nightly News:
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Late word tonight from the White House: a new report prepared for the President about the scandal at the V.A., and it's scathing. It says the entire veterans health care system needs to be restructured. An earlier audit found the agency manipulated records to falsify patient wait times at its hospitals. Today's report says the agency scheduling system is arbitrary, and a corrosive culture pervades the entire V.A.