Protecting Their Investment? Nets Run Cover for Leftist ESG Giants Tied to Ohio Train Disaster

ABC’s, CBS’s and NBC’s premature abandonment of coverage of the environmental disaster in East Palestine, Ohio may have been a gambit to protect the leftist pro-environmental, social, governance (ESG) standard giants tied to the incident. 

The Ohio incident involved a train derailing that led to a controlled explosion and the spewing of toxic fumes into the atmosphere. 

A recent MRC study revealed that the Big Three broadcast network’s morning and evening news shows all but dropped coverage of the Ohio disaster once residents were permitted to return home Feb. 8. Between the incident’s genesis on Feb. 3 and the evacuation order for East Palestine being lifted on Feb. 8, all six shows fell just shy of spending a combined 30 minutes on the topic.

The networks largely regurgitated the public relations gaslighting by the Norfolk Southern Corporation, the owner of the railway responsible for the derailed train. “[R]eporters approached statements by Norfolk Southern and the Ohio EPA – both of whom had a blatant incentive to downplay the seriousness of the situation – with slavish credulity,” NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck and NewsBusters Media Editor Bill D’Agostino wrote. But nearly a week after residents were permitted to return home on Feb. 8, the Big Three rediscovered the topic Feb. 14 after it became clear that they were the three most prominent networks that had stopped covering it. But it gets worse.

It turns out that ESG-obsessed investment giants like The Vanguard Group, JP Morgan Investment Management and BlackRock Fund Advisors, are Norfolk Southern’s largest shareholders. The combined stake between the three shareholders is valued at a sizable $9,392,760,704 as of Feb. 16.

“It truly is incredible, the lackluster coverage that the train derailment and subsequent evacuation in East Palestine, Ohio has received from the Big Three,” asserted MRC Free Speech America & MRC Business Director Michael Morris. “Can you imagine if the same sort of ecological disaster had occurred under the Trump administration? Undoubtedly, the Big Three would be doing all that they could to somehow pin the blame on the former president of the United States. But now, with the Biden administration at the helm — not much more than crickets.” 

Looking at the ownership of ABC, CBS and NBC may provide further insight into why they might try to move on from the Ohio disaster story after propping up Norfolk Southern’s excuses. BlackRock and Vanguard also happen to be amongst the top 5 shareholders for all three of the Big Three networks’ parent companies as of Feb. 16.

BlackRock and Vanguard both hold the top two shareholder positions in The Walt Disney Company (parent company of ABC News). Combined, the two companies hold a collective investment stake valued at $23,154,933,257. Over at Comcast Corp. (parent company of NBC News), Vanguard and BlackRock hold the first and third shareholder positions. The companies hold a collective stake value of $22,767,766,608. Vanguard and BlackRock hold the second and fourth shareholder positions respectively at Paramount Global (parent company of CBS News). The two companies hold a collective stake value of $1,910,443,550.

Strikingly, both Vanguard (Norfolk Southern’s largest shareholder) and BlackRock have been at the center of a leftist movement to radically change American culture through the force of ESG standards in corporate America. 

ESGs provide a smokescreen for left-wing bigwigs in C-suites to force radical leftist politics onto shareholders, according to former McDonald’s CEO Edward Rensi. Utah State Treasurer Marlo Oaks called ESG “the greatest threat to our freedoms in America today without question,” during an exclusive interview with MRC Business. 

The fact that ESG-obsessed companies are tied to the Norfolk Southern disaster blows their eco-virtue signaling on sustainable investment completely out of the water and makes the Big Three prematurely dropping the coverage look even more despicable.

Could it be that the Big Three are doing everything they can to protect their shareholders’ investment in Norfolk Southern? 

NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck and NewsBusters Media Editor Bill D’Agostino contributed to this report.

Conservatives are under attack. Contact ABC News (818) 460-7477, CBS News (212) 975-3247 and NBC News (212) 664-6192, and hold them to account for running cover for the ESG giants tied to the Ohio train disaster.