Network Coverage of 'Scathing' Benghazi Report Doesn't Mention Obama's Name Once
While NBC, ABC, and CBS all covered the new Senate Intelligence
Committee report blaming the Obama administration for security failures
leading up to the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack, none of the coverage on Wednesday's evening newscasts or Thursday's morning shows mentioned President Obama by name.
At the top of Wednesday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian
Williams announced: "...a scathing report just issued by the Senate
Intelligence Committee. It says the deaths could have been prevented by
better security, better communication....And the State Department, they
say, gets most of the blame." CBS Evening News anchor Scott
Pelley declared: "A critical report tonight blames American diplomats
and intelligence officers for failing to prevent the attack on the U.S.
Mission in Benghazi, Libya."
The closest any of the reporting came to including President Obama in the scandal was on ABC's World News,
when correspondent Jonathan Karl explained: "The conclusions, there
were 'no protests' prior to the attacks, as the White House first
claimed." Footage of Obama appeared on screen as Karl spoke.
Moments later, Karl added: "On one key point, the report backs up the
White House. It says there were 'no U.S. military resources' nearby that
could have helped defend the compound. In fact, both the State
Department and Ambassador Stevens himself turned down an offer from the
military to keep a special forces unit in Libya a month before the
attacks."
While NBC's Today and CBS This Morning provided full Benghazi reports on Thursday, ABC's Good Morning America
only offered an eighteen-second news brief on the topic, with news
reader Amy Robach noting: "A bipartisan Senate investigation spreading
the blame for the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, saying the
State Department, military, and intelligence community are all at fault
for missing warning signs."
On CBS This Morning,
co-host Norah O'Donnell used similar language: "The review spreads the
blame around many agencies. It even criticizes the U.S. Ambassador
killed in the attack." Correspondent Nancy Cordes elaborated: "The
report finds that the ambassador himself may have sent mixed messages.
He did warn the State Department about security problems in Libya, but
he also turned down a military offer to extend a troop that was guarding
him."
On Today, Peter Alexander told viewers: "More than sixteen
months later, the deadly attacks in Benghazi are still fueling heated
debate over exactly what went wrong there and who's to blame. This new
Senate report sharply criticizes both the State Department and the CIA
for poor communication and insufficient security."
The networks were happy to name plenty of people and agencies blamed
for the failures – even including one of the victims of the attack,
Ambassador Stevens. However, they were unwilling to acknowledge that all
those players were part of the Obama administration.
— Kyle Drennen is Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Kyle Drennen on Twitter.
