Iran

Obama's NSA Spying on Congress Not a Story at AP — Until GOP Responds
By Tom Blumer | January 1, 2016 | 9:19 PM EST

The Wall Street Journal ran a blockbuster story Tuesday afternoon ("U.S. Spy Net on Israel Snares Congress") about how the Obama administration's National Security Agency's "targeting of Israeli leaders swept up the content of private conversations with U.S. lawmakers." In other words, the NSA spied on Congress. As talk-show host and commentator Erick Erickson drily observed: "Congress began impeachment proceedings on Richard Nixon for spying on the opposing political party."

Whether or not Congress has the nerve to defend itself and the Constitution's separation of powers, what the Journal reported is objectively a major story. Yet the Associated Press ignored it on Tuesday, and most of Wednesday. Finally, at 7:15 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, the AP ran a story by Erica Werner — about how Republicans are planning to investigate the matter.

Rachel Maddow Show Producer Agrees With Obama That GOP Is Globally Unique, and Not In a Good Way
By Tom Johnson | December 27, 2015 | 1:32 AM EST

President Obama considers the Republican party an international outlier, and so does MSNBC's Steve Benen. (That’s “outlier,” not “outlaw,” though, who knows, for them that may be a distinction without a difference.)

After quoting Obama’s recent comment that the GOP is “the only major party that I can think of in the advanced world that effectively denies climate change,” Benen, who’s also the primary blogger for the Maddow show's website, wrote in a Monday post that “hearing Obama talk about this got me thinking about other ways in which the contemporary GOP is an international ‘outlier.’”

Iran Tests Ballistic Missile, Thumbing Nose at UN, Obama Administration; Networks Ignore
By Ken Shepherd | December 7, 2015 | 9:10 PM EST

Earlier today, Fox News reported that Iran has tested "a new medium range ballistic missile test in breach of two United Nations Security Council resolutions." Yet none of Monday's Big Three broadcast network newscasts so much as mentioned the development.

Compromised AP and Reporter Julie Pace Offer Predictably Uncritical Coverage of Obama's Speech
By Tom Blumer | December 7, 2015 | 2:04 AM EST

At the Associated Press Sunday evening, White House Correspondent Julie Pace's coverage of President Obama's Oval Office address was predictably weak.

One could cite at least a half-dozen problems with Pace's story, but two of them were particularly disingenuous.

ABC and NBC Ignore Iran Sentencing Washington Post Reporter Jason Rezaian to Prison
By Curtis Houck | November 23, 2015 | 9:34 PM EST

Amidst all the news about gas prices and weather forecasts for this Thanksgiving week, Monday’s morning and evening newscasts on ABC and NBC found no time to mention that Washington Post reporter and U.S. citizen Jason Rezaian had been sentenced by Iran’s Revolutionary Court to an unspecified prison term after being detained in July 2014.

AP, NY Times Not Interested in Reporting Obama's Disinterest in 'America Winning'
By Tom Blumer | November 16, 2015 | 4:22 PM EST

The obvious pull quote of the day from President Obama's contentious press conference in Antalya, Turkey is this statement: "What I’m not interested in doing is posing or pursuing some notion of American leadership or America winning or whatever other slogans they come up with ..." Obama then claimed that any ideas coming from those who believe in such a notion have "no relationship to what is actually going to work to protect the American people and to protect the people in the region."

Ed Driscoll at PJ Media believes that these words are "the president’s equivalent of Carter’s malaise speech" in the 1970s. Just in case he's right, related stories at the Associated Press and the New York Times have not mentioned Obama's statement, a clear indicator of his lack of genuine resolve, in their coverage.

Morning Joe Keeps Pounding Team Obama for Ignoring US Hostages in Iran
By Michael McKinney | November 5, 2015 | 1:54 PM EST

Thursday’s Morning Joe featured a discussion on the Iranian deal and hostages in Iran. Late into the segment, Mika Brzezinski inquired of Vali Nasr on whether he was surprised the hostages weren't part of the deal. Nasr, who served as a State Department official in the Obama administration, and Karl Vick, of Time Magazine, both expressed a lack of surprise for getting the hostages. Joe Scarborough, infuriated by the lack of suprise, began to criticize the idea of dealing with the Iranians.

Washington Monthly Blogger: Anniversary of Reagan’s Election ‘Should Be a Day of Mourning’
By Tom Johnson | November 3, 2015 | 9:41 PM EST

Wednesday is the thirty-sixth anniversary of the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran. Moreover, it is the thirty-fifth anniversary of what D.R. Tucker calls “one of the great tragedies in American history”: the election of Ronald Reagan as president. (The two events are, of course, related.)

Tucker asserted in a Sunday post that “Reagan’s election nearly destroyed this country” and commented, “Sometimes you have to wonder if the folks who cast their ballot for Reagan…really knew what they were doing. Did they realize what sort of ideology they would inflict upon this country and world over the course of the next thirty-five years? Did they understand that they were, in effect, voting to hold back the hopes and diminish the dreams of their children and grandchildren?”

Former Journalist Says 'One Journalist' Hostage Means Little Next to the Iran Deal
By Michael McKinney | November 2, 2015 | 5:11 PM EST

Monday’s Morning Joe featured a discussion with Richard Stengel, the Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. What proceeded was a discussion of the administration for securing the Iran Deal, without any effort to release Journalist Jason Rezaian, or the other three hostages of the government in Iran. Stengel would try to defend the lack of action, by highlighting that other governments do the same, but the Morning Joe crew was not having any of it.

What to Expect from the Nov. 9 Obama-Netanyahu Meeting
By Cal Thomas | October 20, 2015 | 9:44 PM EDT

When President Obama meets in Washington November 9 with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, I would imagine Netanyahu's main concern will be to find out exactly what the U.S. means by "infringement" as it applies to the Iran nuclear agreement. What exactly will the U.S. do when, not if, Iran violates the deal? What if Israel and the U.S. disagree as to whether there has been a violation?

ABC and NBC Ignore Death of Canadian Diplomat Who Saved Americans in Iran
By Matthew Balan | October 16, 2015 | 5:32 PM EDT

Thursday's CBS Evening News was the sole Big Three network morning and evening newscast to report on the death of Ken Taylor, the former Canadian ambassador to Iran who helped six Americans escape during the 1979 hostage crisis in Tehran. As of Friday morning, ABC's Good Morning America and World News Tonight, along with NBC's Today and NBC Nightly News, have yet to cover Taylor's death.

AP, NY Times Fail to Report Absence of Power, Kerry From Netanyahu UN Speech
By Tom Blumer | October 3, 2015 | 10:02 PM EDT

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the United Nations. As described by George Jahn at the Associated Press, it was "an impassioned speech interspersed with bouts of dramatic silence."

Jahn failed to report the absence of U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power and Secretary of State John Kerry. So did Rick Gladstone and Judi Rudoren at the New York Times. An unbylined Reuters report drily noted that U.S. representation at Netanyahu's speech consisted of "Ambassador Samantha Power's deputy, David Pressman, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro." Breitbart also noted the presence of "Richard Erdman, Alternate Representative to the UN General Assembly." Reuters uniquely explained why Power and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who was in town, did not attend (bolds are mine throughout this post):