“Fight for $15,” the slogan trumpeted by activists campaigning to more than double the minimum wage, got another boost from CBS right before the Republican presidential debate aired on the Fox Business Network.
The protesters rallied in Milwaukee outside the GOP debate along with other activist groups like Black Lives Matter.
On Evening News Nov. 10, anchor Scott Pelley said New York would become the first state to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour for some workers. The new law will increase the state’s minimum wage from $8.75 to $15 and will go into effect in 2018. Only time will tell, how much it will increase the state’s unemployment rate.
“Today, New York became the first state in the nation to adopt a sweeping increase in the minimum wage for public employees,” Pelley said.
CBS also aired footage of the minimum wage protests going on around the country that day.
Framing the story for prime sympathy, national correspondent Ben Tracy asked a single mother of two, “How hard is it to live on $9 an hour?” Tracy said the woman has worked for minimum wage at a fast food company for nine years.
“I have to turn to government assistance for help basically for medicare, food stamps, to help be able to pay rent and provide food for my family,” Chantel Williams responded.
Evening News spent 17 seconds calculating and stating what her yearly salary would like at $15-an-hour. 
While the broadcast did feature people on both sides of the “Fight for $15” debate, only 28 seconds of the 2 minute, 7 second story were given to those explaining why minimum wage hikes lead to decreases in employment and hours.
“A 67 percent increase in the minimum wage will mean job cuts,” Tracy said. He added that “some business owners say low-wage fast food jobs are not meant to be lifelong employment.”
Tracy included Stuart Waldman, the president of Valley Industry and Commerce Association, who said, “A lot of businesses are scared. A $1 an hour increase for a full time employee will end up costing each employer actually about $2,500 per employee, so that’s pretty significant.”
Just hours after the Evening News broadcast, candidates were asked about minimum wage increases during the GOP debate on Fox Business Network. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson all spoke out against increasing the minimum wage.
“Trump, who is a leading candidate in national polls, said the country is already ‘losing too much’ to offer low-wage workers more,” Time Magazine reported.
Carson said, “Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases.”
Throughout the past year, the broadcast networks have repeatedly sided with “Fight for $15” protesters. In February, ABC praised Sen. Bernie Sanders for his “unabashedly progressive” views, including his support for a $15 federal minimum wage. CBS This Morning also praised Sanders’ minimum wage support in July.
In April, NBC Nightly News also cheered on union-led protests demanding a $15 minimum wage.
