ABC's Sawyer Paints Ft. Hood's Nidal Hasan as Just 'Another Worker with a Gun and a Grudge'

August 4th, 2010 11:52 AM

Opening Tuesday's World News with the workplace shooting in Manchester, Connecticut, anchor Diane Sawyer saw it as one in a long line of incidents involving a “worker with a gun and grudge” as she described the nine killed as “the worst rampage since 13 were killed last November at Fort Hood, Texas.”

Army Major Nidal Hasan's business cards identified him as a “Soldier of Allah” and his actions at Fort Hood, clearly motivated by Islamic jihadism, hardly fits in the same category as an  aggrieved worker with a gun who has gone on a rampage. Nonetheless, Sawyer's led the August 3 newscast:

Good evening. Another American tragedy tonight, another worker with a gun and a grudge. This time, nine people are dead, the worst rampage since 13 were killed last November at Fort Hood, Texas. In the normally quiet down of Manchester, Connecticut, this morning one shift was letting off, another was starting the day at a beer distribution center.