ABC World News failed to make any mention of the sparring on deportations between its own White House reporter, Jonathan Karl, and Press Secretary Josh Earnest on its Monday night broadcast, the Media Research Center reports.
Karl cited an article in the Los Angeles Times which explained that under the Obama administration, contrary to White House reports, that deportations of minors had actually gone down. This led Karl to ask Earnest, "Doesn’t that show that what you are saying is disinformation?"
Karl also said that minors coming into the country illegally are "by and large" able to stay because of so few deportations. None of this made the flagship newscast, although a story on the pop singer Madonna did.
The Media Research Center reports:
Despite the contentious back-and-forth in which the ABC reporter accused the White House of providing "disinformation" on the number of illegal children being deported, ABC's World News with Diane Sawyer ignored Karl’s questioning of Earnest on Monday night.
As NewsBusters reported, during Monday’s White House Press Briefing, Karl cited a Los Angeles Times article which found that under the Obama Administration, contrary to White House statements, deportations of minors has actually decreased and according the article is "1/5 of what it had been" in previous years.
When Earnest blamed the current border crisis on a 2008 law signed by President Bush, Karl pushed back and insisted "the bottom line is that minors that are coming into this country illegally by in large allowed to stay because there have been so few deportations."
Rather than cover its own reporter challenging the White House, ABC News instead found time to cover pop singer Madonna appearing for jury duty today. World News anchor Diane Sawyer also hyped musician Taylor Swift penning an editorial in which she criticized people getting music without paying for it.