On Monday, as has been their habit going back at least to the Clinton administration, Investor's Business Daily's editorialists once again broke a story the establishment press likely could have reported years ago.

IBD revealed that the Obama administration "was secretly negotiating the Taliban Five's release without (Bowe) Bergdahl." IBD reasonably believes that coming up with any reason to get the five out of Guantanamo Bay was important to the administration, as it would set a precedent for releasing others from the facility, and eventually emptying and closing it against the will of the majority of Congress, the U.S. military, intelligence officials, and the American people.

In an exclusive interview with Mitt Romney on Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie wondered if the 2012 presidential contender would have traded five Taliban terrorists for Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl if commander-in-chief: "It was controversial. The President presumably knew the circumstance of Bowe Bergdahl's leaving his post. He said, though, leave no soldier on the battlefield. If that had been you in the Oval Office, would you have made that same call?"

In their coverage of desertion charges filed against U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the major broadcast networks on Wednesday night failed to mention that National Security Advisor Susan Rice had praised Bergdahl for serving “with honor and distinction.” Standing in sharp contrast to this glaring omission by the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC, the clip of Rice’s claim on the June 1, 2014 broadcast of ABC’s This Week was shown on CNN and FNC newscasts.

On Thursday night, the major broadcast networks declined to cover reports that one of the five Taliban detainees swapped for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in May 2014 has been seeking to rejoin the terrorism ranks by contacting Taliban members back in Afghanistan.

The news, which was broken by CNN Thursday afternoon, came following reports on Wednesday from Fox News and NBC News that the Army could be pressing desertion charges against Bergdahl for leaving his post prior to his capture in 2009. Since those stories arose, the Pentagon has denied those allegations.

Here's more evidence that the Big Three broadcast newscasts are failing to act as Obama administration watchdogs. Today the federal Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan arm of the legislative branch, released a report finding that the Obama/Hagel Department of Defense broke federal law with the manner in which it negotiated the Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl prisoner swap earlier this year. Such a revelation should be worthy of coverage on a broadcast network evening newscasts, but all three of those networks -- ABC, CBS, and NBC -- ignored the report on their August 21 editions. 

But there was plenty of time for fluffy pet stories on the same broadcasts. ABC's World News wrapped up tonight with a story about a musician who composes easy-listening music for dogs. Meanwhile, CBS Evening News substitute anchor Bob Schieffer informed viewers of some pet-friendly college campuses, and Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News both ran a video clip of dogs splashing about in a swimming pool and aired a photo of a cloud photographed over New York City which looks a lot like a dog [See screenshot below page break].