In the wake of the terrorist slaughter in Paris, one might expect coverage of the Obama administration’s announcement that five more detainees would be released from Guantanamo Bay. Yet, NBC’s Today show, despite a four hour run-time, ignored the story. The New York Times, which often is used by the networks to select story topics, covered the release.
ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS This Morning each allowed a scant 17 seconds. ABC’s Amy Robach quickly revealed, “The men, who are from Yemen, spent 13 years at the camp and have been transferred now to the United Arab Emirates. President Obama is expected to send Congress a plan to close Guantanamo and Republicans have vowed to fight that plan.”
On CBS, Charlie Rose noted, “The Yemeni men had each been held by the United States for nearly14 years. None had been charged with a crime. A total of 170 detainees remain at Guantanamo.”
The New York Times on Monday offered:
Each of the five detainees was captured near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in late 2001, after the battle of Tora Bora, when many low-level fighters fled to the mountains, according to leaked military dossiers.
The transferred detainees included four men who had been recommended for transfer by a 2009 task force made up of six security-related agencies. Those detainees are Khalid Abd Jal Jabbar Muhammad Juthman al Qadasi, Sulaiman Awath Sulaiman Bin Ageel al Nahdi, Fahmi Salem Said al Sani and Adil Said al Haj Obeid al Busayss.
Considering the heightened discussion of terror in the wake of the Paris killings, this deserved more than 34 seconds out of an available eight hours on NBC, ABC and CBS, Monday morning. It’s not as though NBC didn’t have time. Today devoted three and a half minutes to an Animal Planet children’s special.
In January of 2015, Obama released five prisoners. Only ABC covered the story, managing 16 seconds.
Transcripts of the two briefs can be found below:
GMA
11/16/15
8:06:22 to 8:06:39
17 secondsAMY ROBACH: And the Pentagon has released five detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. The men, who are from Yemen, spent 13 years at the camp and have been transferred now to the United Arab Emirates. President Obama is expected to send Congress a plan to close Guantanamo and Republicans have vowed to fight that plan.
CBS TM
11/16/15
7:31:35 to 7:31:52
17 secondsCHARLIE ROSE: The New York Times reports on five detainees at Guantanamo Bay transferred for the United Arab Emirates. The Yemeni men had each been held by the United States for nearly14 years. None had been charged with a crime. A total of 170 detainees remain at Guantanamo.
