ABC Silent as Toxic East Palestine Derailment Anniversary Pulls into the Station

Nicholas Fondacaro | February 2, 2024
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Saturday will mark one year since a toxic Norfolk Southern train derailment, and the subsequent “controlled” release and burn-off overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency, poisoned the town of East Palestine, Ohio. But in the run-up to the anniversary of the man-made ecological disaster, ABC’s flagship morning and evening newscasts completely ignored it. Meanwhile, NBC Nightly News ignored the fact that President Biden still had not visited the site nor met with residents there.

ABC’s apparent reluctance to mark the one-year anniversary was another data point in the network’s poor pattern of behavior with the story. As NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck reported last year, ABC was the first broadcast network to distance itself from the East Palestine story just two weeks after the disaster.

Thursday’s edition of NBC Nightly News had an entire report dedicated to the anniversary featuring correspondent Steven Romo speaking with resident Christine Dilworth, whose life had been turned upside down by the derailment.

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***The complete post is on NewsBusters***