Watch · November 13, 2026

FAA ground stop halts every U.S. departure for hours, and Sean Duffy blames 1980s equipment

From the LeftPBS NewsHour

Score:B

Lehrer score 81/100 (starts at 85; +2 one named, on-record source: Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin heard on the record: "This is a telecommunication outage"; +3 primary document linked or cited (filing, ruling, data release, statement): quotes the FAA notice citing "extraordinary circumstances and reasons of safety"; +2 context: background or what came before: "The last time was in January of 2023, after the failure of a pilot communications system"; −6 unlabeled claim, analysis or opinion in the outlet's own voice (rule 2/10): "This is a function, once again, Amna, of kicking the can down the road as Congress and Washington has done for years and years on infrastructure in the air" in its own voice; −5 unnamed source on a side point, or a figure with no stated source (rule 11): "there's some speculation that that system of connecting those en route centers has failed," with no source named). Fixed scale: 90+ A, 80s B, 70s C, 60s D, under 60 F → B.

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From the CenterNewsNation

Score:B

Lehrer score 87/100 (starts at 85; +2 one named, on-record source: former national security adviser John Bolton heard on the record at length). Fixed scale: 90+ A, 80s B, 70s C, 60s D, under 60 F → B.

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From the RightFox News

Score:B

Lehrer score 87/100 (starts at 85; +2 one named, on-record source: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy answers on the record). Fixed scale: 90+ A, 80s B, 70s C, 60s D, under 60 F → B.

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• From the LeftPBS NewsHour: PBS NewsHour's Miles O'Brien says Congress and Washington kicked the can on air traffic upgrades for years.

  Grade: B (81/100). Lehrer score 81/100 (starts at 85; +2 one named, on-record source: Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin heard on the record: "This is a telecommunication outage"; +3 primary document linked or cited (filing, ruling, data release, statement): quotes the FAA notice citing "extraordinary circumstances and reasons of safety"; +2 context: background or what came before: "The last time was in January of 2023, after the failure of a pilot communications system"; −6 unlabeled claim, analysis or opinion in the outlet's own voice (rule 2/10): "This is a function, once again, Amna, of kicking the can down the road as Congress and Washington has done for years and years on infrastructure in the air" in its own voice; −5 unnamed source on a side point, or a figure with no stated source (rule 11): "there's some speculation that that system of connecting those en route centers has failed," with no source named). Fixed scale: 90+ A, 80s B, 70s C, 60s D, under 60 F → B.

• CenterNewsNation: NewsNation's guest John Bolton puts the outage next to Microsoft's and says it could all be coincidence.

  Grade: B (87/100). Lehrer score 87/100 (starts at 85; +2 one named, on-record source: former national security adviser John Bolton heard on the record at length). Fixed scale: 90+ A, 80s B, 70s C, 60s D, under 60 F → B.

• From the RightFox News: Fox News presses Sean Duffy on the cause, and he blames old switches, routers and 1980s copper lines.

  Grade: B (87/100). Lehrer score 87/100 (starts at 85; +2 one named, on-record source: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy answers on the record). Fixed scale: 90+ A, 80s B, 70s C, 60s D, under 60 F → B.

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