More Lawsuits for ABC? Network Lies About Linda McMahon
Rebecca Downs
| December 16, 2024 8:45 PM
Over the weekend, as Matt covered, ABC News reached a $15 million settlement with President-elect Donald Trump, after "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos falsely claimed that Trump had been found liable of rape. The network may soon be in even further trouble, though, with a report involving Linda McMahon, Trump's pick to head the Department of Education.
On Monday, The Daily Signal put out a piece highlighting coverage from ABC News that came out on December 11. The live report from Jay O'Brien came during "ABC News Live Prime."
https://twitter.com/RobertBluey/status/1868792514628784194It appears to be part of a pattern of looking to downplay what Trump's nominees bring to the table, though in this instance it goes further than that, considering that O'Brien falsely claimed that McMahon "has no formal training and little experience in education." In reality, McMahon, decades ago, earned a teaching degree while receiving her bachelor's degree at East Carolina University.
As The Daily Signal piece mentioned:
In the first minute of an eight-minute overview, O’Brien stated that McMahon has no formal education training and little experience:
“If she receives Senate confirmation, McMahon, who has no formal training and little experience in education, will be tasked with setting policies for the nation’s schools.”
This is patently false.
While receiving a bachelor’s degree in French at East Carolina University in the late 1960s, McMahon earned a teaching certificate after completing a teacher preparation program at the school. This information has been available publicly for years, reported in outlets like The Washington Post and USA Today, was confirmed in a Hartford newspaper in 2011, and has been listed in official statements from East Carolina University.
The most recent data from National Center for Education Statistics on educator qualifications reported that at least 8% of public schoolteachers in the United States had a teaching certificate instead of a bachelor’s degree in education.
Additionally, teacher transition programs, in which non-education career individuals obtain a certificate to teach their skillset in schools, are common in the United States. Almost 20% of teachers enter the education field in this way, and are not described as “unqualified” or “untrained” by any state department of public education or public instruction.
ABC News did not include this information in its coverage.
O’Brien then doubled down on his claim of McMahon’s “lack of qualifications,” by clipping a speech from the leader of the nation’s largest teachers’ union, National Education Association President Becky Pringle.more
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/rebeccadowns/2024/12/16/abc-news-report-on-linda-mcmahon-n2649136
