ABC’s Good Morning America curiously and unnecessarily chose Thursday in their seven minutes and three seconds covering the latest developments in the suspected kidnapping of NBC’s Today co-host Savannah Guthrie’s mother to omit any mention by Savannah and her sister Annie of God, prayer, and their family’s Christian faith. And all told, there was only one mention of a prayer service Wednesday night in Tucson for her safe return.
In contrast, both CBS Mornings (led by an emotional Gayle King) and NBC’s Today not only played most of the family’s video, but discussed amongst themselves the need for all of us to pray for the Guthrie family in this troubling time.
Here was ABC’s story in full (with the second hour story a nearly verbatim repeat):
WATCH: Notice what ABC's 'Good Morning America' curiously cut out of their Nancy Guthrie coverage...
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 5, 2026
They edited out any mention of God or prayer, which Savannah Guthrie and her siblings mentioned repeatedly as well as how faith is central to their family pic.twitter.com/aENPsS4V2U
Co-host Michael Strahan tossed chief investigative correspondent Aaron Katersky on scene in Tucson: “But first, we begin with the search for Nancy Guthrie intensifying as Savannah Guthrie and her siblings plead for their mother’s safe return in an emotional message.”
Katersky started off by noting it’s been “five days now since Savannah Guthrie’s elderly mother was last seen” and now Savannah “and her siblings are crying out for the woman they say who’s light is missing from their lives and addressing the possibility she is being held for ransom.”
Then came the first two clips from the video:
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Mommy, if you are hearing this, you are a strong woman.
KATERSKY: This morning, the heart-wrenching message from Savannah Guthrie and her siblings, choking back tears, pleading for the safe return of their mother, Nancy.
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Everybody is looking for you, Mommy. Everywhere. We will not rest. Your children will not rest until we are together again.
Those two sentences were not back-to-back. Here’s what ran in between them that ABC left out: “You are God’s precious daughter Nancy. We believe and know that even in this valley, He is with you.”
In essence, ABC made it way too easy for us to notice what was curiously omitted.
“Police have said Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her home. In their Instagram post, her children refer to her by name and as a grandmother, encouraging her captors to see her as a person,” he continued as a segue to Savannah telling the world (and possible abductors) about her mom.
Savannah explained:
Our mom is kind, faithful, loyal, fiercely loving woman of goodness and light. She is funny, spunky and clever. She has grandchildren that adore her and crowd around her and cover her with kisses. She loves fun and adventure. She is a devoted friend. She is full of kindness and knowledge. Talk to her and you’ll see.
Katersky conceded the video was a “scaled-down, personal video” with Savannah, her sister Annie, and brother Cameron appearing “approachable and anguished.”
He then ran the only clip of Annie: “Mama, if you’re listening, we need you to come home. We miss you.”
Here was what was missing in which she too alluded to Nancy’s faith:
The light is missing from our lives. Nancy is our mother. We are her children. She is our beacon. She holds fast to joy in all of life’s circumstances. She chooses joy day after day. Despite having already passed through great trials of pain and grief, we are always going to be merely human, just normal human people, who need our mom.
Alluding to her mother’s need for medicine and the possibility her kidnappers are listening, Katersky said the family made clear (as per a direct appeal from Savannah) that they “are willing to listen and to talk”:
As a family, we are doing everything that we can. We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you and we are ready to listen. Please reach out to us.
The rest of the piece concerned the possible veracity of ransom notes, a soundbite of analysis from ABC News contributor Brad Garrett, and the increased FBI presence.
It was here he made the only faith mention in passing: “Overnight, her community prayed for Guthrie’s safe return.”
After Katersky tossed back to the hosts in New York, co-host Georgte Stephanopoulos said, “[w]e certainly hope that she is still alive” while co-host Robin Roberts simply said, “absolutely, wow.”
Along with the omitted two passages we brought up earlier, here’s a combined transcript of passages cut from ABC’s piece and see if you notice a pattern of what was cut for space:
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: On behalf of our family, we want to thank all of you for the prayers for our beloved mom, Nancy. We feel them, and we continue to believe that she feels them too.
(....)
ANNIE GUTHRIE: The light is missing from our lives. Nancy is our mother. We are her children. She is our beacon. She holds fast to joy in all of life’s circumstances. She chooses joy day after day. Despite having already passed through great trials of pain and grief, we are always going to be merely human, just normal human people, who need our mom. Mama...
(....)
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: and she needs it not to suffer. We, too, have heard the reports about a ransom letter in the media...You are God’s precious daughter Nancy. We believe and know that even in this valley, He is with you...We speak to you every moment and we pray and we rejoice in advance in the day that we hold you in our arms again. We love you, mom.
ANNIE GUTHRIE: We love you mom.
CAMERON GUTHRIE: We love you, mom. Stay strong.
ANNIE GUTHRIE: Come home. We love you.
To see the relevant ABC transcript from February 5, click here.
