Veterans Affairs

On Saturday, Nets Gloss Over 'Scathing' Report on V.A. Scandal, ABC Ignores Completely
By Brad Wilmouth | June 29, 2014 | 4:56 PM EDT

After Friday's World News on ABC ignored the White House report on the infamous problems with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Saturday's Good Morning America on ABC also ignored the scandal, while CBS This Morning Saturday and NBC's Today show -- both of which are two-hour programs - only ran short briefs, the one on CBS totaling 25 seconds and the one on NBC 19 seconds.

By contrast, the CBS Evening News on Friday led with the V.A. story and gave it a full report of more than two minutes. The NBC Nightly News, after initially giving the story 24 seconds on Friday, followed up Saturday evening and presented viewers a full report of almost two and a half minutes, making it the second story both evenings.

ABC Ignores 'Scathing' New Report on V.A. Scandal; CBS and NBC Cover
By Matthew Balan | June 27, 2014 | 9:48 PM EDT

Friday's World News on ABC 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: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]

NewsBusted: The ABCs of VA Scandal Bias
By NB Staff | June 24, 2014 | 1:40 PM EDT

"ABC News gave the latest developments in the VA scandal just 14 seconds of coverage. Which is exactly 14 seconds more than the Obama administration spent trying to fix the problem."

To subscribe to NewsBusted via email, sign up here. To watch the Tuesday, June 24 edition, click play on the embed below the page break. To subscribe at YouTube, visit the NewsBusted channel here.

ABC, NBC Too Busy With O.J. Simpson Police Chase Anniversary To Cover V.A. Scandal
By Matthew Balan | June 11, 2014 | 8:58 PM EDT

CBS Evening News was the only Big Three evening newscast on Wednesday to report that the FBI has opened a criminal investigation into the V.A. scandal. Neither ABC's World News nor NBC Nightly News covered this latest development in the ongoing controversy. Instead, both programs devoted air time to the 20th anniversary of O.J. Simpson's slow-speed run from the police, after the murder of his wife and her friend.

Anchor Scott Pelley gave an 18-second news brief on the federal agency's new probe into the cover-up of long patient wait times at the Department of Veterans Affairs: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]

Senior WH Official to Ron Fournier: VA Not Overhauled Because 'We Don't Do Small Stuff Well'
By Tom Blumer | June 9, 2014 | 10:00 PM EDT

In a Monday National Journal column about how many Democrats are allegedly saying they have "quit" on Obama — claims I find quite hollow, given that no one asserting this has yet had the guts to go on the record — Ron Fournier quotes "a senior White House official" with a head-shaking take on the Veterans Administration scandal.

Specifically, "Questioning why the Veterans Affairs Department hadn't been overhauled months ago as promised by Obama (actually that was seven years ago, plus six other times, Ron — Ed.), a senior White House official conceded privately to me, 'We don't do the small stuff well. And the small stuff is the important stuff.'" If the VA is "small," what in the world is big? And for that matter, what have these people done well, big or small? I suspect that the rest of the press, and Fournier himself, would be absolutely livid if they became aware of such an ignorant statement made by someone in a Republican or conservative administration.

NBC's Williams Skips V.A. Scandal in Obama Interview; Omits Reid's Claim on Bergdahl Swap
By Matthew Balan | June 6, 2014 | 11:32 PM EDT

Brian Williams glossed over the V.A. scandal during his interview of President Obama on Friday's NBC Nightly News. Williams did devote time to the ongoing controversy surrounding the release of senior Taliban leaders in exchange for Bowe Bergdahl – specifically the White House failing to inform Congress 30 days before the Islamists were let go from Guantanamo Bay, as required by federal law.

However, the anchor didn't mention that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid revealed that he was informed of the trade for Bergdahl on May 27, 2014 – a day before it actually happened. Williams also forwarded the President's own misleading claim about his grandfather's World War II service: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]

Giving Obama a Helping Hand: Only Two Minutes of VA Scandal Coverage This Week
By Connor Williams | June 6, 2014 | 11:24 AM EDT

While this week’s coverage of the Obama administration’s exchange of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five senior Taliban officials has been generally critical, the broadcast networks have helped Team Obama out on another front — since Monday, coverage of the Veterans Affairs waiting list scandal has been virtually nonexistent.

Despite the continuously unfolding developments on the scandal, the major news networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC devoted barely two minutes this week to the story. Altogether, the morning and evening shows had a combined 46 hours of air time from Monday through Friday morning, yet offered up a mere 2 minutes and 16 seconds of coverage. Not a single VA story this week amounted to more than 30 seconds in length [MP3 audio here; video below].

CNN's Lemon Spars with Ben Carson Over ObamaCare/Slavery Remarks; V.A. Scandal
By Matthew Balan | June 4, 2014 | 5:50 PM EDT

On Tuesday's CNN Tonight, Don Lemon hounded conservative author Dr. Ben Carson over his October 2013 likening of ObamaCare to slavery and his recent blunt remarks about the V.A. scandal. Lemon acted as an apologist for the President and wondered, "How can you compare a health care program to the brutal oppression and abuse of black people in this country?"

The anchor later asked, "Are you saying the President and this administration don't have Americans' best interests at heart because they're trying to get people health coverage?" He also accused the neurosurgeon of needlessly injecting inflammatory language into politics: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]

Unanswered VA Scandal Question: Why Is Even a 14-Day Wait For an Appointment Acceptable?
By Tom Blumer | May 31, 2014 | 6:29 PM EDT

An item which appears to be overlooked in the Department of Veterans Affairs scandal is the press's and presumably the public's blind acceptance of the department's goal to reduce its average wait times to 14 days as supposedly "aggressive."

My reaction is that the goal doesn't seem "aggressive" at all, or even borderline acceptable, based on both personal experience and some admittedly limited research I've done on best practices. It seems to me that the average consumer, and for that matter the average journalist, would have a hard time accepting the idea of an average 14-day wait time for a personal appointment involving real urgency. So why should the expectations of or for those who served our country be any lower?

Chris Matthews: ObamaCare Rollout and VA Scandal Show the President's 'Lack of Alertness'
By Connor Williams | May 30, 2014 | 4:55 PM EDT

When you’ve lost Chris Matthews, have you lost liberal America? The Hardball host stopped by for a visit on the May 30 edition of MSNBC’s NewsNation for an analysis of the resignation of VA Secretary Shinseki and the VA scandal overall.

The former Tip O’Neill staffer didn’t hold back, repeatedly hitting Obama and Shinseki for a lack of alertness regarding the scandal. Matthews was aghast at the utter lack of awareness the president has shown–not just on the VA –but on his signature legislative achievement, ObamaCare. He even insinuated that a lack of cognizance was a part of the president’s habitual behavior, proclaiming [audio here; video below]:

Andrea Mitchell: VA Scandal 'Far More Serious' Than Obama's Other 'So-Called Scandals'
By Kyle Drennen | May 30, 2014 | 4:15 PM EDT

On her Friday 12 p.m. ET hour MSNBC show, host Andrea Mitchell joined fellow media liberals Stephen Colbert and Chris Matthews in labeling the VA scandal the first real scandal of the Obama administration: "...this is the biggest political problem that the President has faced. This is far more serious than a lot of so-called scandals that have popped up from time to time in the last couple of months." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

USA Today's Susan Page affirmed: "I totally agree with you, this is much more perilous for the President politically. Benghazi, they can dismiss that as a partisan battle. The Affordable Care Act, they can argue, 'This is actually going to work pretty well, just give us a little more time.'"

Nancy Pelosi: VA Wait List Manipulation Isn't a 'Scandal With Intention and the Rest of It' Yet
By Tom Blumer | May 29, 2014 | 11:59 PM EDT

Imagine the press letting a Republican or conservative get away with trying to avoid uncondtionally calling something as infuriating and outrageous as the Veterans Administration waiting list scandal a real scandal.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did that on Monday (HT Patterico and Real Clear Politics) in an interview with Vox's Ezra Klein, who naturally let it slide right on by: