Krauthammer: ‘Media Are Somewhat Embarrassed’ By Missing Benghazi Dissembling
Columnist Charles Krauthammer contended, on Thursday’s Special Report with Bret Baier, that the release of the Ben Rhodes memo has changed the media dynamic in interest toward the Benghazi scandal because journalists are now “embarrassed” over being “rolled” by the White House:
“What’s changed now, and we saw it in the briefing room, is I think the other media are somewhat embarrassed by the fact that, unlike Fox, they allowed themselves to be stoned and spun and rolled for a year and a half and now the memo appears and it’s obvious that they missed the story.”
Audio: MP3 clip
That may be true of the press corps in the White House briefing room, as Krauthammer cited, but there’s little evidence of any change in the media’s decision-making as to what is worthy of putting onto the air.
To wit, Thursday’s World News on ABC provided a mere 46 seconds on new testimony from Air Force Brigadier General Robert Lovell, who was at the U.S. Africa Command headquarters during the attacks, who told Congress the military “should have done more,” while neither the CBS Evening News nor NBC Nightly News offered a second on Benghazi.
NBC’s evening newscast, which squeezed in a piddling 32 seconds on Rhodes Wednesday night, on Thursday night put a higher priority on yet another full story on the missing Malaysian airplane and allocated 48 seconds to the dangers of ultra-violet lights in nail salons.
The CBS Evening News, which didn’t bother to mention Rhodes or Benghazi on Wednesday, on Thursday found 25 seconds to report on how disgraced Toronto mayor Tom Ford is entering re-hab.
In the morning, on Wednesday’s three broadcast network morning shows, only CBS This Morning touched Benghazi. On Thursday morning, only Today, with a 28-second brief, mentioned Benghazi.
So, through Thursday night this week, neither the name Rhodes nor the word Benghazi have been uttered on ABC’s Good Morning America or the CBS Evening News.
— Brent Baker is the Steven P.J. Wood Senior Fellow and Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Follow Brent Baker on Twitter.
