CNN and MSNBC viewers on Wednesday would have to switch channels if they
wanted to watch the first hearing of the House Select Committee on
Benghazi. CNN aired a 15-second news brief at the top of the 10 am
Eastern hour, mere minutes before the nearly three-hour meeting began,
but didn't cover the proceedings live. MSNBC set aside 12 minutes worth
of segments to the event, and sometimes showed split-screen video, but
didn't provide the audio.
By contrast, Fox News Channel provided
nearly 41 minutes (40 minutes, 51 seconds) of live coverage of the
congressional committee's hearing during the 10 am and 11 am Eastern
hours. The media outlet also aired 25 minutes and 14 seconds of
reporting, interviews, and panel discussion segments on the hearing.
Correspondent Joe Siedman zeroed in on the "surprising lack of the partisan bickering" during the select committee's hearing in a Wednesday article [1]
for NBCNews.com. Siedman noted "the subject of today's hearing: the
recommendations of a review panel on enhancing diplomatic security of US
facilities overseas," and outlined that "the committee heard the
testimony of Greg Starr, the assistant secretary for diplomatic
security; Mark J. Sullivan, the former director of the Secret Service;
and Todd Keil, the former assistant secretary for infrastructure
protection at the Department of Homeland Security."
The panelists' testimony apparently wasn't newsworthy enough for CNN and MSNBC (CNN
president Jeff Zucker made it clear [2] in May 2014 that his network
wouldn't be "shamed" into covering the story). Instead, the CNN Newsroom
program aired a five and a half minute segment on the investigation
into the death of comedian Joan Rivers. Anchor Carol Costello also
trumpeted "breaking news" on the NFL announcing a new drug policy, which
includes new testing for human growth hormone and a revised standard
for marijuana. Costello and correspondent Andy Scholes devoted a
two-minute segment to the sports news.
On MSNBC, anchor Tamron
Hall devoted nearly a minute to the controversy surrounding the NFL
pulling a track by singer Rihanna, in the wake of the Ray Rice domestic
abuse scandal on the NewsNation program. The liberal news outlet also
set aside over 13 minutes to the Rice and Adrian Peterson scandals, as
the select committee's hearing was underway. Six days earlier, MSNBC ignored [3] the two-year anniversary of the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack which killed four Americans.
— Matthew Balan is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Matthew Balan on Twitter. [4]