ABC, NBC and CBS quickly moved on from stunning news that an IRS whistleblower on the Hunter Biden probe told Congress that the president's son invoked his father to pressure a Chinese business partner and claimed the elder Biden was in the room while he was making deals, according to a new study.
Last Thursday, the House Ways and Means Committee released testimony from two IRS whistleblowers who said the Justice Department, FBI and IRS interfered with the investigation of the tax evasion case against Hunter Biden.
One whistleblower, IRS Criminal Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley Jr., who oversaw the IRS probe into the president's son, said the IRS obtained a WhatsApp message dated July 30, 2017, from Hunter Biden to Henry Zhao, CEO of Harvest Fund Management, in which Hunter alleged he was with his father and named him to put pressure on Zhao to fulfill a commitment.
"I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight," Biden wrote.
Media Research Center Director of Media Analysis Geoffrey Dickens has been tracking the coverage and found that broadcast networks "initially jumped on the story" but ditched it almost immediately. He found that morning and evening newscasts on ABC, NBC and CBS spent five minutes and three seconds on the WhatsApp message bombshell from June 22 to 24 but haven’t mentioned it since.
"If you only got your news from the broadcast networks and intentionally ignored them for a quick weekend summer vacation getaway that started on Thursday, June 22 that lasted through Saturday morning, June 24, you would be oblivious to the stunning development of Hunter's WhatsAPP text," Dickens told Fox News Digital.
"The text is so damning in its nature, it's not surprising the networks moved so quick off of it, given their past history of hiding the laptop story in 2020," Dickens added. "Anything that directly connects President Joe Biden to Hunter's business dealings and the President's denial of them is devastating."
ABC, CBS and NBC have all covered Hunter Biden in the days since, but they completely ignored the WhatsApp text, according to the Media Research Center.
Dickens believes the story would have been given significantly more airtime if Republicans were at the center, noting that broadcast network newscasts devoted 510 minutes to the Donald Trump indictment from June 8 to 27.
"The question has to be asked, if the names of the players involved were changed from Hunter Biden and Joe Biden to Donald Trump Jr. and Donald Trump Sr. would the networks have brushed the story off after five minutes of coverage over just a couple of days? Unlikely," Dickens said.
ABC, NBC and CBS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A bank account linked to Hunter Biden received more than $5 million in August 2017, shortly after his threatening messages, according to documents released by congressional investigators. Christopher Clark, an attorney for Hunter Biden, has attacked the whistleblower allegations.
"Biased and politically-motivated, selective leaks have plagued this matter for years. They are not only irresponsible, they are illegal. A close examination of the document released publicly yesterday by a very biased individual raises serious questions over whether it is what he claims it to be. It is dangerously misleading to make any conclusions or inferences based on this document," Clark said last week. "The DOJ investigation covered a period which was a time of turmoil and addiction for my client."
Fox News’ Brianna Herlihy and Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.
