March 14, 2014 David Rhodes Ben SherwoodPresident, CBS News President, ABC News524 West 57th Street 47 West 66th StreetNew York, NY 10019 New York, NY 10023Deborah Turness Paula Kerger President, NBC News CEO, PBS 30 Rockefeller Plaza 2100 Crystal DriveNew York, NY 10112 Arlington, VA 22202 Dear Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Sherwood, Ms. Turness, and Ms. Kerger:We are writing to express our deep concern regarding your networks’ coverage of the impact of low minimum wages on hard-working Americans, their families, and our country. As evidence mounts showing that low wages cost taxpayers and our economy billions annually and keep millions of workers in poverty, the push for better, more livable wages is growing nationwide. At this critical juncture, your viewers deserve to know what’s at stake if we fail to address the status quo. According to a report published this week by

Media Matters for America

,

World News with Diane Sawyer 

,

CBS

 

Evening News

 ,

Nightly News with Brian Williams,

and

 PBS NewsHour

only mentioned the public cost of low minimum wages

eight times in the last year –

including how they burden taxpayers and force workers to rely on government programs, such as SNAP, TANF, housing vouchers, or other anti-poverty programs. The majority of mentions were on

PBS NewsHour 

, which provided six of the eight total mentions. The other two were made on

Nightly News with Brian Williams

.When it comes to growing our economy and improving the livelihoods of workers, it’s increasingly imperative that your evening news programs cover the cost of inaction. Because of low wages, many workers in the fast food industry alone -- many of whom make wages at or just above the current minimum wage -- are forced to rely on government assistance to the tune of almost $7 billion annually. Additionally, a recent analysis found that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would reduce necessary spending on food stamps by $4.6 billion annually.Your evening news programs reach millions of Americans every night and frequently set the tone for how this issue is debated at the kitchen table, state legislatures, and the Halls of Congress. We urge you to correct this oversight and hope you will take greater action in the future to ensure that these programs tell the full story. We are happy to meet with you to discuss ways to make your minimum wage coverage more informative.Sincerely,  AFL-CIO American Family Voices Americans United for Change

 

 Asian Pacific American Labor AllianceBend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for JusticeCampaign for America’s FutureCoalition on Human NeedsCommunications Workers of AmericaCourage CampaignDean Baker Co-Director, Center on Economic and Policy ResearchDemocracy PartnersDisciples Justice Action NetworkMain Street AllianceMoveOn.orgNational Employment Law ProjectPatriotic Millionaires for Fiscal StrengthProgressive Change Campaign CommitteeProgressNowProgressive States NetworkSmart Capitalists for American ProsperityThe Agenda ProjectUnited Auto WorkersWorking America