Nets Use Statue of Liberty Power Outage to Boost Left-Wing Protest

March 8th, 2017 2:46 PM

On Wednesday, all three network morning shows seized on false left-wing speculation that a brief power outage at the Statue of Liberty Tuesday night was meant to be a show of support for the “A Day Without A Women” protests planned for International Women’s Day. While the ABC, NBC, and CBS broadcasts knocked down those claims, hosts did use the incident as a way to promote the liberal demonstration.

At the top of ABC’s Good Morning America, co-host Robin Roberts noted: “As you know, a lot of news to get to this morning and it is International Women's Day.” Fellow co-host George Stephanopoulos highlighted: “Yeah, going to be marches and protests across the country today. And check this out, some people were wondering if the Statue of Liberty was in on it last night...the lights went out. It was a power failure.”

Roberts chimed in: “Or was it? The Women's March, the group behind a lot of today’s events, tweeting about it, saying, ‘Even Lady Liberty is in on the movement, going dark.’”

During a full report that followed minutes later, correspondent Lindsey Davis parroted the talking points of the leftist protesters:

A day without women is essentially a female strike. This is a grassroots effort organized by the same women responsible for the Women's March on Washington. Gatherings are already taking place around the world. The purpose is simple, it’s to show the economic impact of women and highlight the economic injustices that women still face. Millions of women are being asked to walk off their jobs and abstain from working in and out of the home and not shop unless the business is woman owned.

Roberts briefly mentioned: “...there is some criticism here because there are a lot of women who are saying, ‘Hey, wait a minute, I cannot afford to take the day off.’ So how are organizers responding to that criticism?” Davis dismissed it: “Yeah, the organizers are saying that that's not the case and that this is about feminism, that this is about solidarity.”

On NBC’s Today, fill-in co-host Willie Geist began a news brief on the topic:

Here in New York, the Statue of Liberty went dark for more than an hour last night....Many people on social media speculated the outage was related to today's ‘A Day Without a Woman’ strike. But officials have now said it was due to work being done on a new emergency generator and that is the likely cause.

He then segued: “As for that strike, organizers are calling for women to take today off and not to spend money to show their economic strength and impact on American society.”

On CBS This Morning, co-host Gayle King told viewers:

Here's look at the Statue of Liberty this morning, after it suddenly went dark last night. The mysterious power cut sparked an online debate. Only Lady Liberty’s crown and torch were bright during the outrage. Many wondered if it was deliberate, if it was a deliberate message ahead of “A Day Without Women” protest. The lights came on more than an hour later. A National Parks Service spokesman says the outage was unplanned and was likely related to a project for a new backup generator.

That report came minutes after an earlier brief in which she announced: “Today's event is a spin-off of the march that following President Trump's inauguration....This day-long strike is meant to highlight the economic power and significance of women.”

At no point did any of the coverage identify the protesters as liberal or partisan.

Here is a full transcript of the March 8 report on GMA:

7:01 AM ET TEASE:

ROBIN ROBERTS: As you know, a lot of news to get to this morning and it is International Women's Day.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Yeah, going to be marches and protests across the country today. And check this out, some people were wondering if the Statue of Liberty was in on it last night. Normally it looks like that, but here it was last night. Yeah, the lights went out. It was a power failure.

ROBERTS: Or was it? The Women's March, the group behind a lot of today’s events, tweeting about it, saying, “Even Lady Liberty is in on the movement, going dark.”

STEPHANOPOULOS: You’ll have more on that ahead.

7:16 AM ET SEGMENT:

ROBIN ROBERTS: Now to International Women's Day. Here in the U.S., women are being encouraged not to go to work so they can show how they impact the economy. Take a look at what one company here in New York did to mark the day, putting a statue of a little girl looking right into the eyes that have famous Wall Street bull. ABC’s Linsey Davis is here with much more. Good morning, Linsey.

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: “A Day Without A Woman”; Female Strike to Mark International Women’s Day]

LINSEY DAVIS: Good morning, Robin. A day without women is essentially a female strike. This is a grassroots effort organized by the same women responsible for the Women's March on Washington. Gatherings are already taking place around the world. The purpose is simple, it’s to show the economic impact of women and highlight the economic injustices that women still face. Millions of women are being asked to walk off their jobs and abstain from working in and out of the home and not shop unless the business is woman owned.

Now, women make up half of the U.S. workforce and account for 91% of registered nurses, one-third of doctors, 15% of the military. Three quarters of America's public schoolteachers are women, which explains why some school districts in North Carolina and Virginia will be closed today, because they anticipated that so many of their teachers would participate in the protests.

And of course, here in New York City, you mentioned the firm that put up the statue of the little girl staring down the iconic charging bull. This is in an effort to draw attention to the lack of women on corporate boards and also the pay gap between women and men in financial services. Robin?

ROBERTS: And Linsey, as you know, there is some criticism here because there are a lot of women who are saying, “Hey, wait a minute, I cannot afford to take the day off.” So how are organizers responding to that criticism?  

DAVIS: Yeah, the organizers are saying that that's not the case and that this is about feminism, that this is about solidarity. And they are asking the women who cannot afford to take the day off, or for whatever reason are not able to participate in the protest, to wear red as a show of support.

ROBERTS: Alright, Linsey, thank you very much.