On the heels of President Obama and Senate Democrats achieving the minimum threshold on Wednesday to preserve the Iran nuclear deal, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC applauded during their evening newscasts the “unstoppable” “done deal” that had Secretary of State John Kerry taking “a victory lap.”
Lester Holt
As part of President Barack Obama’s visit to Alaska this week to promote climate change, Tuesday’s NBC Nightly News showcased investigative correspondent Cynthia McFadden’s trek to Arctic Alaska ahead of Obama to meet “some of America’s first climate change refugees” due to rising seas near their villages.
On Monday night, all three of the major broadcast networks covered the impending release of more e-mails from Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server, but largely kept their coverage to a minimum before moving onto dissecting the latest 2016 polls on the Republican and Democratic sides. All told, the networks spent one minute and 42 seconds on Clinton’s e-mails and news that 150 of them have been retroactively deemed classified while Spanish-language network Univision spent devoted a 25-second news brief to the issue.
The “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC again promoted on Wednesday night the three-round bout between 2016 GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and liberal Fusion/Univision anchor Jorge Ramos from the night before as ABC and CBS failed to note Hillary Clinton addressing her e-mail scandal Wednesday afternoon in Iowa.
NBC Nightly News continued on Monday to sing the accolades of Vice President Joe Biden amid rumors of a possible 2016 presidential run, declaring that he’s “electrified the political world” as he met with “liberal icon Elizabeth Warren,” while ABC’s World News Tonight ignored declared candidate Hillary Clinton’s e-mail scandal. NBC's Peter Alexander began his report by gushing: “Talk about a full plate. Two not so secret lunches in three days for Joe Biden. First with liberal icon Elizabeth Warren.”
Continuing to be incensed over the use of the term “anchor baby” by Republican presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Donald Trump, ABC News correspondent Tom Llamas took the airwaves on Thursday’s World News Tonight to scold Bush for “bombastic language” and replaying his attack on Trump for using the “offensive term.”
ABC’s World News Tonight chose to ignore on Wednesday the latest on the Hillary Clinton e-mail server scandal to instead continue obsessing over video of a little boy being hit in the head with a football after missing a pass from Republican Senator and presidential candidate Marco Rubio (Fl.) in Iowa. After the networks spent 18 seconds on Tuesday night and two minutes and 43 seconds Wednesday morning on the video, anchor David Muir spent another 18 seconds promoting “one unscripted moment from the campaign trail” with the football from Rubio.
The “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC all mentioned on Tuesday evening Hillary Clinton’s decision to take questions from the press in Nevada concerning her e-mail server scandal and, as usual, they parroted Clinton campaign talking points in touting how Clinton “vigorously defended herself” in the press conference concerning what’s become a “stubborn political issue.”
In the midst of the covering the U.S. Embassy’s reopening in Havana, Cuba on Friday morning, MSNBC’s The Rundown couldn’t help but repeatedly ooze over the fact that Secretary of State John Kerry attended the ceremony using a walking cane that belonged to former President John F. Kennedy’s brother and former fellow Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy. Gushing that it’s “a fascinating backstory,” NBC's Andrea Mitchell made the first mention just after 9:00 a.m. Eastern about Kerry using “Teddy Kennedy’s cane.”
While all three broadcast networks on Friday morning celebrated the American flag being raised at the newly-reopened U.S. embassy in Havana, CBS ignored Cuban dissidents not being invited to the ceremony, while NBC and ABC gave mere seconds to the controversy.
On Thursday night, the CBS Evening News omitted reports that the Islamic terrorist group ISIS used chemical weapons in multiple attacks in Iraq over the past week against Kurdish forces the group claimed responsibility for a bombing in Iraq earlier in the day. In contrast, ABC’s World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News offered news briefs on the development with the latter program also providing a full report from chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel on the brutality of female members of ISIS in enforcing Islamic laws on women living under the terrorist group’s control.
The “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC continued to cover on Wednesday night news that scandal-ridden Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton turned over her private e-mail server and numerous thumb drives to the FBI but largely brushed it off as “a headache” and “distraction” for Clinton in what has “been a tough summer.”
