CBS's 2012 Recap Glosses Over Key Aspects of Benghazi Attack Controversy

January 2nd, 2013 7:20 PM

During a retrospective on 2012 on the December 30, 2012 edition of CBS's Sunday Morning, Charles Osgood ludicrously oversimplified the continuing scandal over the September 11, 2012 Islamist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Osgood conspicuously omitted U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's Sunday show appearances five days after the assault, which conflicted with intelligence agencies' early conclusion that the attack was pre-planned.

The journalist's 14-second look at the story merely consisted of two sentences noting who died in the American installation and one of the most recent developments [audio available here; video below the jump]:

CHARLES OSGOOD: And in Benghazi, Libya, an armed attack killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Four State Department officials eventually resigned over the incident.

Charles Osgood, CBS News Host; Screen Cap From 30 December 2012 Edition of CBS's Sunday Morning | NewsBusters.orgOsgood also failed to mention that Rice took her name out of consideration to be Hillary Clinton's successor as head of the State Department.

This isn't the first time that CBS has rushed to the U.N. ambassador's aid. Over two months earlier, on the November 14, 2012 edition of CBS This Morning, anchors Norah O'Donnell and Charlie Rose took turns pummeling Senator John McCain over his vow to block any potential nomination of Rice to be Secretary of State.

More broadly, the MRC's Rich Noyes documented how CBS, along with ABC and NBC, first gave slanted coverage of the terrorist attack, and then buried the story as the controversy grew.