Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a law on April 23 that would make it a misdemeanor for immigrants to not carry documentation proving they are in the country legally. The bill gave state law enforcement the power to determine the immigration status of any person during "any lawful contact." Amid allegations that this law would lead to "racial profiling," Brewer later amended it to allow law enforcement to only check the immigration status of those involved in a "lawful stop, detention or arrest."

Reporters on ABC, NBC and CBS misled the American people about the law by calling it "anti-immigration" twice as often as correctly identifying the law as "anti-illegal immigration" and reporting, as ABC's Bill Weir did on the April 24 "Good Morning America, "Police [in Arizona] now have the power to stop anyone and make them prove they are legal."

On Friday night, NBC promoted leftist May Day protests against Arizona’s new immigration enforcement law while CBS, after a full week of coverage focused on outrage against it, finally bothered to get around to how murder and crime got the public behind it. Declaring Arizona is “at the center of a growing storm over its tough new immigration law,” NBC anchor Brian Williams touted: “Activists across the country are planning a series of May Day protests tomorrow against the law.”

Reporter George Lewis announced: “Those May Day protests are expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people into the streets from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., to here in Arizona,” where Republican Governor Jan Brewer defends the measure even though, as if it’s relevant, Arnold Schwarzenegger, does not like it: “Last night on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger disagreed with Brewer.” Schwarzenegger: “I would never do that in California, passing laws like that. No way.”

Over on the CBS Evening News, Bill Whitaker acknowledged “recent polls show more than 60 percent of Arizonans support the state's tough new immigration law,” explaining, as if that’s surprising:

CBS won’t let go of liberal efforts against the new immigration enforcement law in Arizona. A night after Katie Couric focused on “the backlash against Arizona's new immigration law. San Francisco bans official travel to that state,” she teased Thursday’s CBS Evening News by trumpeting a lawsuit against it from a lone police officer: “The latest response to Arizona's new immigration law? Sue the state. We'll tell you who is.” She soon cited how “the first lawsuits were filed today challenging it, including one by a Tucson police officer who claims the law is unconstitutional.”

Reporter Bill Whitaker presumed Arizona has earned “notoriety,” instead of popularity for a law with majority support, as he began:

Six days after Arizona gained notice and notoriety with the toughest anti-immigration law in the country, protests are building, opposing sides are hardening, outside pressure is mounting. Today opponents turned on a little star power: Mexican-American singer Linda Ronstadt spoke out....She endorsed the first of what's likely to be a flurry of opposition lawsuits.

The law doesn’t take effect for several months, Whitaker noted, “but many citizens say it's having a chilling effect already. Listen as we talk to this immigrant rights worker.” Viewers then heard a male voice: “Why don't you go back to Mexico if it's so great, man?” Whitaker acknowledged some local governments “are pushing for Arizona-style immigration laws,” but countered with how “many more cities are lining up in opposition. Dozens are threatening to cut all business ties with Arizona.”

Arizona’s new law hardly earned a friendly reception Friday night from any of the network newscasts, but CBS went the furthest in presenting it from the perspective of its “victims” as anchor Katie Couric, over video of “Veto Racism” and “Stop the Hate” signs, teased: “Tonight, Arizona's controversial new immigration law. Police will now be able to make anyone they choose prove they're here illegally. It triggers demonstrations by both sides and a warning from President Obama.” (Presumably, she meant “prove they’re here legally.”)

Reporter Bill Whitaker suddenly found wisdom in the Catholic Church, plastering “mean-spirited” on screen:

In Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony, head of the country's largest Catholic archdiocese, called the law “mean-spirited” and compared it to Nazi repression. Today at a ceremony for new citizens, President Obama criticized Arizona's actions.

On ABC, Diane Sawyer teased: “Tonight on World News, Crackdown. Arizona targets illegal immigrants. The toughest new law in the country. Protesters hit the streets.”

At the top of Thursday’s CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric used a free clinic in Inglewood, California to push for health care reform: "Tonight in the battle over health care, they are on the front lines....we’re going to show you why many believe reform is desperately needed. These are just some of the tens of thousands of Americans who need health care but have no insurance or not enough of it."

In the report that followed, correspondent Bill Whitaker described the organization that set up the free health clinic: "This program is run by Remote Area Medical, a nonprofit group established 24 years ago to take modern medicine to the third world. Today, they do some 40 multi-day free clinics a year, 65% of them now in the U.S." Whitaker spoke to one volunteer physician, who compared the need for health care in the U.S. to that of third world nations: "Here at home, we have as much a need as I do when I travel to the most remote areas of India, and that’s very heartbreaking."

On March 2 of last year, CBS’s 60 Minutes ran a story on Remote Area Medical in which anchor Scott Pelley made similar third world comparisons when discussing the American health care system: "Recently, we heard about an American relief organization that air drops doctors and medicine into the jungles of the Amazon....But these days, that’s not the Amazon – this charity founded to help people who can’t reach medical care now finds itself throwing America a lifeline."