On Sunday's Meet the Press, viewers heard Mitt Romney (remember him?) talk about Obamacare and which Republicans he thinks are strong for 2016. On ABC's This Week, Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer addressed various bits of gossip from Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's new book Double Down. Among the things these gatekeepers of Serious Political News ignored? Cuts to food stamps, which hit Friday and affect more than 47 million people. A Media Matters analysis found that the four major Sunday morning news shows never mentioned "food stamps," "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program," "SNAP," or "nutrition."
It should come as no surprise that the opinions of an unpopular former presidential candidate were considered more newsworthy than cuts to assistance that helps more than 47 million Americans avoid hunger. Media Matters had been tracking network news attention to the benefit cuts over the month before they went into effect, and found that the November 1 automatic benefits decreases were simply being ignored. Even in the days immediately before the cuts kicked in,
From October 29 to November 1—the day the cuts when into effect—MSNBC devoted nine segments in the originally examined 5 p.m. - 11 p.m. window. NBC and CBS each provided one segment. CNN, Fox News, and ABC provided no segments in the same timeframe.
If you get your news from the national network shows, then, you won't hear about
food bank directors worried they'll have to turn people away because they can't make up for what's been lost. You won't hear from
SNAP recipients like Sarah Ferretti, a single mother of three:
She said she relied heavily on the $600 monthly allotment she had been receiving in food stamps. Now, her family will scrape by with $56 less.
“Eating fresh vegetables... that’s definitely not going to happen. We eat canned,” she said at the pantry, where she helps as a volunteer to get additional groceries. And preparing Thanksgiving dinner will be a struggle. “That’s an eating holiday. … The holidays are tough,” said Ferretti, who hopes to receive a donated turkey for Thanksgiving.
Clearly this story, repeated millions of times, is not as important as the fact that Mitt Romney still thinks the guy he chose for vice president is a strong candidate.