BROADCAST BIAS: From 'without evidence' to war panic, the media target Trump and America
In his second term, President Donald Trump has been more aggressive in attacking America’s enemies than he was in his first term. But whenever this commander in chief approves military action, the broadcast networks reflexively attack it and seek to undermine the effort. This certainly happened when America and Israel took military action against Iran on Feb. 28.
One sickening impulse is the networks offering a propaganda platform to the enemy, as they did repeatedly with Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Aragchi. On ABC’s "This Week," Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., called host George Stephanopoulos out for it when the host repeated the Iranian line that the American attack was "unprovoked." Lankford began by quipping, "I would hope that Iranian TV is carrying Marco Rubio today, the same as you all just carried the Iranian foreign minister today."
It’s obvious that it’s more controversial within these liberal networks to provide a platform for Trump than to interview a Baghdad Bob–like figure in the decapitated theocracy in Iran.
TRUMP SAYS US 'DOING VERY WELL' IN IRAN NEARLY 1 WEEK INTO JOINT ACTION AGAINST TEHRAN
On Monday morning, an ABC White House correspondent broke out the "without evidence" line against the president. Trump "has yet to make a robust case for war to explain why Iran presented an imminent threat to the U.S." and has "insisted, without evidence, that a rebuild of their nuclear program was happening fast."
NBC chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel claimed Trump justified the military actions on the basis of "a theoretical threat ... that if, in the future, Iran were to expand its ballistic missile program, it could threaten the United States. … He was talking about a theoretical future threat, and the rest was past grievances from the Iraq War."
The Trump administration has made the case that the theocracy in Iran has been at war with the United States since it took American hostages in 1979. That argument is dismissed as "past grievances." Iran’s campaign of killing American soldiers in Iraq with roadside bombs, which was downplayed in real time, is now just "past grievances."
Then there’s the theme of economic blowback. On Tuesday night, ABC’s "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir warned, in his typically clipped verbiage, "Amid this war with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz essentially shut down where 20% of the world’s oil passes through. Tonight the stock market plunging, oil and gas prices already up. The Dow plunging more than 1,200 points today before clawing back some of its losses."
ABC News reporter Elizabeth Schultze echoed the gloom: "Tonight, growing fears of prolonged war sending the stock market tumbling and oil prices surging." Then, on the same broadcast, came the cherry-picked "analysts," who warned that "higher energy prices will ripple across the economy." Economist Ryan Sweet argued, "The consumer can't catch a break. So you’re going to see it in food prices, you’re going to see it in air fares. Overall, inflation is going to perk up a little bit over the next couple of months."
Notice how neatly this matches the Democratic argument about affordability in a midterm election year. The dark clouds forever hang over everything Trump does. The "news" is manufactured to keep the bad weather rolling indefinitely.
The networks also reported polling results to insist the president launched an "unpopular war." On Thursday’s "Today" show, guest host Hoda Kotb touted, "A new NBC News poll shows that most voters, 52 percent, say the U.S. should not have taken military action against Iran." The numbers — 41% backing the war, 52% against — pretty closely match the current polling on President Trump’s approval rating. The broadcast networks are pushing the idea that this could hurt Republicans in the midterm elections.
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This week, the "PBS News Hour" turned to a contributor in Iran, Reza Sayah, who has pushed the Iranian regime's perspective.
On Monday, he announced, "Just keep in mind, from Tehran's point of view, there's no trust. This is the second time they're in the middle of negotiations. Without warning, they have been under attack. … So they're projecting resilience, toughness."
On Tuesday, PBS anchor Amna Nawaz asked if there was an uprising afoot. Sayah wasn’t having it: "Obviously, when the death of the Supreme Leader was announced, there were pockets of celebrations throughout the country. But millions of others came out to mourn his death."
Without discussing the recent murders of thousands of Iranian protesters, Sayah added that there was "no sign of any mass protests, mass uprising, and no indication of an organized opposition with a clear leader. If, in the coming days, it so happens that people come out, it is very likely that armed security forces are going to be waiting for them."
These networks love to pose as the saviors of democracy in America, but they’re not coming across as favoring democracy in Islamic countries. They warn of "Christian nationalism" on the rise in America but have no problem with Islamic nationalism in Iran. They have compared Trump to Hitler, while ignoring the Iranian regime’s Holocaust deniers who want to end the nation of Israel.
There’s a reason so many Americans have tuned these networks out.