All Three Morning Shows Skip Any Reference to Radical Obama Czar and 9/11 Truthers
All three morning shows on Friday skipped any reference to the
developing controversy over Obama administration Green Jobs Czar Van
Jones and his connection to the 9/11 Truther movement.
CBS's Early Show, NBC's Today and ABC's Good Morning America totally
ignored the story, although ABC's Jake Tapper did file an online report over the subject.
And although Fox News on Thursday covered the revelation that Jones signed a 911truth.org statement in 2004 urging
an investigation into whether or not George W. Bush had prior knowledge
about 9/11 ("people within the current administration may indeed have
deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war"),
none of nightly news programs highlighted this potential problem for
the Obama administration.
So, while Good Morning America found no time for this incendiary
topic, co-anchor Robin Roberts did host a segment on testing name brand
versus store brand pizza. Early Show's Harry Smith explained to viewers
how to keep your lawn in top condition this autumn. And Today's
co-hosts thrilled over the must-have fashions for the fall season.
ABC's Tapper, in an online post for the Political Punch blog, wrote,
"This is becoming problematic for the Obama administration, which spent
much time and energy belittling the fringe 'Birther' movement of those
alleging, despite myriad evidence, that President Obama was not born in
the U.S." (Tapper did file a report for Friday's GMA, but on another
topic and made no mention of Jones.) In the White House correspondent's
blog post, he reported this new development: "But in March 2002, a
march in San Francisco was called to demand a congressional inquiry
into 9/11. Jones was on the 'organizing committee.'"
- Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.
