Citing MRC Research, Rep. Lamar Smith Blasts Media for Biased Border Coverage

July 18th, 2014 6:40 PM

On the floor of the U.S. House this past week Texas Republican Lamar Smith blasted the media’s coverage of the crisis on border while citing Media Research Center's finding to bolster his case.

"The crisis at the border is a result of the president’s allowing half a million illegal immigrants to stay in the country," Rep. Smith argued, "The liberal national media also are responsible for creating this crisis. The Media Research Center found that from June 8th through July 1st, eighty-nine percent of news stories on ABC, NBC and CBS failed to mention that President Obama’s policies have encouraged the surge of illegal minors at the border…."

"The national media should give the American people all the facts, not tell them what to think," Smith argued.

The Lone Star Republican is right to hold the liberal media accountable for the miserable job they have done reporting on the humanitarian crisis at the border. Indeed as we have extensively reported here at NewsBusters, the media have hardly reported at all what is undoubtedly one of the biggest humanitarian crisis of the day. 

For example:

More alarmingly, the networks have devoted zero attention to:

  • Government censorship of the media at the immigration detention centers
  • Defense department concerns about terrorists and gang members who could be hiding in the new influx of illegal immigrants
  • MS-13 gang members recruiting new members at processing facilities
  • Border patrol agents who are being infected with diseases as a result of poor health of the immigrants they are coming into contact with.

The immigration crisis is reaching epic proportions. The national news media may not want to report it because of their biased and how such reporting may poorly impact the president. But the American people have a right to know all the facts – the good, the bad, the ugly.