ABC Touts "Made in America" by Americans — Just Not at Its Owner, the Walt Disney Company

By Dan Cadman on September 16, 2015

Monday's "ABC Evening News" with David Muir included a feature the program airs with some regularity called "Made in America".

The theme of this portion of the broadcast is American workers and products; this time it featured WD-40, which has been produced in San Diego since the 1950s. Watching the piece, my thoughts went into a stream of consciousness state as I reflected on what I was seeing.

ABC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, responsible for managing and overseeing all aspects of television for the company, including specifically ABC News. Readers will recall that, not long ago, Disney was embroiled in controversy (which disappointingly subsided all too quickly) for firing a host of its American tech workers in favor of recently imported H-1B nonimmigrant workers and then added salt to their wounds by requiring them to train their replacements before leaving.

In fact, news media reported at the time of the Disney kerfuffle that the same kind of terminations and replacements were in the offing at ABC, but were then cancelled without either fanfare or explanation.

It makes one wonder: Was one of the reasons they changed their minds because ABC Evening News routinely airs the "Made in America" segment showcasing the increasingly rare items still made by American workers here in this country?

Imagine the hoots of derision from the likes of Stephen Colbert and other late-night television hosts, and the biting op-ed articles that would have attended replacing American workers at ABC while trying to tout American-made goods and employees on their national evening news program.

As for me, I think the derision is still merited. Hypocrisy, thy name is Disney.