NBC News Ignores Emails Showing White House Knew Libya Attack Was Terrorism

October 24th, 2012 2:23 PM

**UPDATE** At 2:30 p.m. EDT, MSNBC mentioned the damaging emails for the first time, coupling it with breaking news of an arrest in the attack on our Libyan consulate.   

Following in the footsteps of its sister broadcast network, MSNBC has continued to ignore the shocking revelation that the White House knew on September 11 that the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was under a well-coordinated terrorist attack. 

As NewsBusters’ Matthew Balan noted, NBC's Today was the only broadcast network morning show this to ignore the story altogether, with MSNBC following suit by remaining silent as well throughout the day.  In contrast, both Fox News and CNN have run numerous stories Wednesday morning.

Instead of focusing on a major national security issue, NBC and MSNBC have instead chosen to devote much of their time to the manufactured controversy surrounding Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock’s comments on unborn children who are the result of rape.  Additionally, while NBCNews.com does mention the Libya revelations, it doesn't have prime real estate on the webpage, unlike the websites of ABC, CBS, FOX, and CNN which all feature the story prominently.      

Even Andrea Mitchell, NBC News’ Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, failed to mention the story on her MSNBC show Andrea Mitchell Reports at 1 p.m. Eastern.  Ms. Mitchell, you may recall, has been repeatedly criticized for running selectively edited videos smearing Mitt Romney as well as refusing to air video of President Obama that her own network had previously authenticated and aired earlier in the day. 

Such a blackout by NBC News adds to the list of examples documented by NewsBusters showing their pro-Obama agenda by ignoring stories that may hurt the president’s reelection chances.