NBC’s Bias Showing?
Thursday, November 30th, 2006Newsbusters has the proof.
While liberals like Marty Kaplan of the Huffington Post have hailed NBC’s boasting usage of “civil war” as the end of “the neo-Stalinist era of American political discourse,” some might ask if NBC hasn’t been gingerly with other politically sensitive terms.
We’ve all likely heard about NBC’s Matt Lauer’s bold declaration that the violence happening in Iraq is a civil war. Nevermind the fact that the Pentagon says that it isn’t. It isn’t unreasonable to say that it’s hotly disputed. Compare that with this:
NBC’s Andrea Mitchell asked on Monday’s NBC Nightly News: “What is Hezbollah and what is its end game?” Mitchell first answered that “experts say to prove it can damage Israel in ways Arab countries couldn’t.” But then she proceeded to refer to “Hezbollah’s charismatic leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah,” also describing him as “a Shiite populist” who she relayed, over video of kids, “provides social services where Lebanon’s weak new government cannot.” Mitchell refrained from labeling Hezbollah as “terrorist”, or mentioning how its real “end game” is the destruction of Israel, going no further than to say it “operates militias.”
Nasrallah is a terrorist and Hezbollah wants Israel wiped off the face of the earth. Hezbollah, of course, is funded in large part by Ahmadinejad, who also wants Israel wiped off the face of the earth. Would Mitchell, who used to be a good reporter, say that Ahmadinejad funds militias, the most prominent of which is al-Sadr’s Mahdi army? Would she describe Ahmadinejad as “Iran’s charismatic leader”? Based on her reporting on Nasrallah, there’s a possibility that she might.
Technorati Tags: Nasrallah, Hezbollah, Iran, Ahmadinejad, Media Bias
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog