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East Palestine: Under 30 Network Minutes, Then Near-Silence Once the Evacuation Lifted

A Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, and crews later vented and burned vinyl chloride from five tank cars. Two independent media counts found the broadcast networks gave it little time, and almost none once residents went home. The NTSB later found the vent-and-burn decision was botched.

Feb 3, 2023
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Whose side it served: Democrats

Thin early coverage eased pressure on the Biden administration and Transportation Secretary Buttigieg in the first weeks.

What the record shows

The train derailed Feb. 3, 2023, with 11 hazardous-materials cars among those that left the track, and residents were evacuated over fears of an explosion. In June 2024 the NTSB found Norfolk Southern and its contractors mishandled the decision to vent and burn, withholding evidence from Oxy Vinyls that the cars were cooling. Norfolk Southern agreed to a $600 million class settlement, later approved in court. NewsBusters (Bill D'Agostino and Curtis Houck, Feb. 14, 2023) counted just under 30 combined minutes on ABC, CBS and NBC through the Feb. 8 lifting of the evacuation, then zero on ABC, 38 seconds on NBC and 64 seconds on CBS afterward. Media Matters, from the other side of the spectrum, counted about 15 broadcast minutes (NBC 7, CBS 6, ABC 2) and about 2.5 cable hours through Feb. 13, and it also called the coverage inadequate.

In their words

“NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy: "the absence of fatality or injury doesn't mean the presence of safety"”— · source
The other side

Cable networks, including CNN with over an hour, covered the story extensively, and coverage picked up from Feb. 13 on (Fox News and MSNBC alone aired 56 minutes that day). Media Matters argued the bigger failure was ignoring the rail industry's deregulation lobbying, not partisan burying.

Sources

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