President’s Trump’s announcement this week that five of the “Most Wanted” ISIS leaders were captured by U.S. and coalition forces was greeted with a collective yawn by the “big three” news networks.
The media watchdog News Busters documented the cold shoulder on Friday that Mr. Trump was given regarding the ever-tightening noose on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
A military operation that required months of planning between Iraqi allies and Syrian forces received 42 seconds of airtime by CBS Friday morning compared to zero coverage by ABC and NBC Thursday night.
“ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today both completely skipped the setback for ISIS,” News Busters reported Friday. “In contrast, Today devoted 1 minute and 4 seconds to the Trump cabinet story. Peter Alexander hyped the report that ’the President berated Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen during a cabinet meeting, Wednesday, for her failure to adequately secure the nation’s borders.”
“GMA spent 37 seconds on Nielsen and nothing on ISIS. Cecilia Vega gossiped: ’We’re told by a source who was in this meeting this week that the President berated her,’” the watchdog continued. “On Thursday’s evening news, the pattern was the same: Only CBS covered the ISIS story. ABC and NBC skipped it.”
The Iraqi government said it killed dozens of terrorists based on information gleaned from the captured ISIS leaders.
Five Most Wanted leaders of ISIS just captured!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2018
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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