Benghazi Blackout: How the Big Three Networks Have Censored or Spun Obama's Deadly Foreign Policy Failure
Table of Contents:
- Benghazi Blackout: How the Big Three Networks Have Censored or Spun Obama's Deadly Foreign Policy Failure
- Introduction
- Hillary's 'What Difference at This Point Does It Make?' Hearing Performance Praised
- Panetta Testimony Reveals Obama Was Disengaged During Benghazi, ABC Ignores
- Blistering House Report Places Blame for Benghazi on Obama and Clinton, NBC and ABC Ignore
- Whistleblower: Special Forces Could’ve Responded to Benghazi Attack, Networks Bypass
- Benghazi Whistleblowers Being Threatened, Networks Refuse to Report
- Gregory Hicks Testimony Exposes Obama Administration Cover-Up, Networks Grant Story Only Five Days of Coverage
- E-Mails Prove Obama Administration Scrubbed CIA Talking Points on Benghazi, Networks Report Then Quickly Move On
- Obama Picks Benghazi Scandal Figure Susan Rice to Be National Security Adviser, Networks Yawn
- ABC, CBS and NBC Ignore More Reports about Benghazi Witness Intimidation
- State Department Employees Disciplined Over Benghazi Go Back to Work, Only CBS Reports
- Benghazi Investigative Team Being Pulled Out, Networks Don’t Notice
- Book Claims State Department Was Told Benghazi was a ‘Terrorist Attack’ Minutes After It Started, Only CBS Reports
- Conclusion
Wednesday marks the one year anniversary of the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi that left Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead and sent the Obama administration scrambling for a cover story that the Big Three broadcast networks initially bought and were slow to unravel. A similar pattern has emerged in 2013. As new information about the administration’s actions before and after the attacks have been revealed through congressional testimony, whistleblowers, and eyewitnesses, the Big Three have responded by censoring, breezing past or spinning politically damaging bombshells.
From praising Hillary Clinton’s January testimony on Benghazi as a “fiery” “valedictory” to ignoring accusations of witness intimidation, the networks have, for the most part, operated as an arm of the White House PR machine. The only events that drew truly critical coverage were Gregory Hicks’ compelling testimony of the events of that tragic day and the release of e-mails that proved the administration had engaged in scrubbing CIA talking points. However these stories came in the midst of the intense but relatively brief period in May that the networks were forced to cover the myriad of scandals (IRS, AP, NSA) breaking all at once.
But when it was revealed, in July, that Benghazi survivors, State Department and CIA employees were being forced to sign non-disclosure agreements the Big Three networks responded with a yawn, offering not one single story.
The following is a chronological list of key developments in the Benghazi scandal and how they were covered or not covered on ABC’s World News, Good Morning America, CBS’s Evening News, This Morning, and NBC’s Nightly News and Today show.
