Cable news networks devoted less than 3 minutes of coverage to the passage of a draconian and unprecedented anti-LGBT law in North Carolina, while national Spanish-language news networks ignored the law's passage completely.

On March 23, North Carolina became the first state in the country to pass a law banning transgender people from using certain bathrooms in publicly run facilities and schools. The law -- House Bill 2 -- came in response to an ordinance passed in Charlotte, which would have protected LGBT people from discrimination in housing and public accommodations.

But according to a Media Matters study, cable news networks mentioned the measure only briefly the day before and after the law's passage, with MSNBC providing 2 minutes of coverage and Fox News and CNN giving 22 and 25 seconds of coverage, respectively. National Spanish-language TV news shows failed to report on the law's passage entirely:

The LGBT community isn't the only group negatively impacted by the legislation. The bill also prevents cities from enacting local nondiscrimination ordinances or their own minimum wage laws, an issue that could disproportionately affect the state's growing Hispanic population and other racial and ethnic minorities.

The law is also unprecedented in the way it was adopted: The special session was the first in the last 35 years called by North Carolina's general assembly, rather than the governor, and it was one out of only 10 total held in the past 18 years. The bill became law in a mere 12 hours, with Republican Gov. Pat McCrory signing it at around 10 p.m. on March 23.

The success of the legislation is due in part to a failure of local TV outlets in North Carolina to debunk anti-transgender misinformation peddled by local anti-LGBT activists. National TV networks could have an impact in stopping similarly harmful legislation from spreading to other states by providing timely, informative coverage.