In their latest report Media Matters of America reveals how in its latest effort to downplay the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), Fox News spent a mere 19 seconds covering its historic passage by the Senate Nov. 7.
Fox News Mostly Ignored Senate Passage Of ENDA. According to an Equality Matters analysis, Fox News spent 19 seconds reporting the bill’s passage, compared to CNN’s four minutes of coverage and MSNBC’s nearly 10 minutes:
Fox News Also Underreported Senate Cloture Vote On ENDA. According to an Equality Matters analysis, Fox devoted a scant four minutes of coverage of the Senate’s cloture vote on ENDA on November 4. Fox spent half of those four minutes questioning whether ENDA was merely a “distraction” from Obamacare. [Equality Matters,11/7/13]
ENDA Would Prohibit Employment Discrimination Against LGBT Workers
ENDA Would Ban Employment Discrimination On The Basis Of Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity. According to the Huffington Post:
ENDA would bar companies from factoring sexual orientation or gender identity into employment decisions. Employers are already prohibited by federal law from discriminating over race, religion, age, gender or disability. The proposal exempts businesses with fewer than 15 employees as well as religious organizations. [Huffington Post, 4/25/13]
In A Historic Vote, The Senate Passed ENDA With Bipartisan Support
Senate Voted 64-32 To Pass ENDA. ThinkProgress reported (emphasis added):
For the first time in the legislation’s two-decade history, the Senate has passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would make it illegal to discriminate in employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The final vote was 64-32, adding the votes of Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) to the many Republicans who helped the bill pass cloture earlier in the week. Earlier on Thursday, the Senate defeated an amendment by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), which would have drastically expanded religious exemptions in a way that would have allowed private businesses to continue discriminating against LGBT workers. It required 60 votes, but did not even receive a simple majority (43-55). [ThinkProgress, 11/7/13]
Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.
