Imagine this: A major broadcast network grabs an exclusive in reporting (on the web) that the Senate Intelligence Committee has found no material evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, notes Grumpy Editor.
But in the two following days, the news does not yet go airborne.
Under a Washington dateline, NBC’s Ken Dilanian wrote, “After two years and 200 interviews, the Senate Intelligence Committee is approaching the end of its investigation into the 2016 election, having uncovered no direct evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, according to both Democrats and Republicans on the committee.”
Bill D'Agostino, a research analyst for Media Research Center's News Analysis Division, points out “yet none of the three major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) have given it even a single second of coverage in their evening newscasts. Considering these networks have given the Russia probe a massive 2,202 minutes of airtime, their silence on this major development is deafening."
He adds, “MRC analysts examining all coverage on ABC’s World News Tonight, the CBS Evening News and the NBC Nightly News found that those 2,202 minutes spent on the Russia investigation accounted for nearly 19 percent of all Trump-related reporting between January 21, 2017 and February 10, 2019.”
Through Sunday, meanwhile, media continue to report special counsel Robert Mueller is close to wrapping up his investigation into possible collusion between Trump's campaign and the Russian government. Example: CNN's Reliable Sources with Brian Seltzer Sunday kept the investigation alive with a segment on "Russia Mueller Probe Rolls on."
IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…
PIECE OF AMERICANA FADES. Minor league baseball stadium for the Hartford Yard Goats, a Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, says fans will not be buying peanuts or Cracker Jack (made famous in the lyrics of the famous, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game") to make the venue safer for people with food allergies.
NO FEDERAL TAXES FOR AMAZON. Amazon, which doubled its profits and made more than $11 billion in 2018, won't pay any federal income taxes for the second year in a row, reports the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
SNOW FALLS LOWER IN HAWAII. While snow usually falls in Hawaii a few times a year in winter on the state's highest peak, Mauna Kea --- the dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii, rising 13,803 in feet --- the white stuff is rarely seen at elevations below 9,000 to 10,000 feet. But that's what happened on Maui's 10,000-foot Haleakala that received a rare thick dusting of snow that accumulated at 6,200 feet in Polipoli State Recreation Area.
CHICAGO RANKS AS MOST CORRUPT. Information from the Justice Department ranks the Chicago metropolitan area as the most corrupt U.S. city. Meanwhile, Los Angeles tops the list of the most public corruption convictions in America, based on the number of federal corruption convictions between 1976 and 2017.
STOP THE PRESSES. Grabbing space in U.S. newspapers was the earth-shaking report from Toronto about a 19-year old woman who tossed two chairs from a 45th floor balcony onto a busy street in front of her condo building's entrance. No one was injured.
DIRTY MONEY. The typical Manhattan ATM is more bacteria-ridden than a wide range of other heavily-used objects, including a subway pole and the handle of a public toilet at Penn Station, reports the New York Post.
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