Posted on 08/09/2014 5:56:29 AM PDT by markomalley
The Big Three networks steered clear of labeling the Islamist group ISIS "terrorists" on their evening newscasts on Friday. Instead, ABC's World News and CBS Evening News labeled the genocidal radicals "militants." NBC Nightly News used the more benign "rebels" in their coverage of the group's latest attacks on the Kurdish part of Iraq.
The closest that a journalist at ABC, CBS, or NBC got to using the "terrorist" label was Scott Pelley's teaser at the very top of CBS Evening News: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]
(video at link)
SCOTT PELLEY (teaser): Tonight, back in battle: The President orders U.S. warplanes to attack Sunni Muslim extremists in northern Iraq to stop a campaign of terror. But he makes Americans this promise:
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq.
Brian Williams introduced correspondent Jim Miklaszewski's report on NBC Nightly News by noting that "a violent group called ISIS has swept across Iraq. They have civilians and religious minorities on the run, and threatened with death." Miklaszewski twice referred to ISIS as "rebels" during the segment. He did include a clip of President Obama using the "terrorist" label in reference to the group:
JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: ...In his nationwide address Thursday night, President Obama said the airstrikes are necessary to protect American lives at the U.S. consulate in Erbil.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I've directed our military to take targeted strikes against ISIL terrorist convoys should they move toward the city.
MIKLASZEWSKI: The airstrikes are also aimed at supporting Kurdish Peshmerga fighters – U.S. allies overrun by ISIS rebels this week. President Obama cautioned, however, any U.S. airstrikes would be limited. Critics accuse the President of playing domestic politics, and that limited airstrikes will do little to stop the relentless advance of ISIS rebels.
The NBC journalist later underlined that "ISIS...has seized a large section of east and northern Iraq, with unspeakable brutality that includes mass executions and beheadings."
On World News, ABC correspondent Martha Raddatz repeatedly used the "militant" term during her report on the U.S. airstrikes against the Islamists:
MARTHA RADDATZ: Good evening, David. The U.S. military now has a green light to launch airstrikes as needed in Iraq – today, pounding multiple targets, trying to stop the militants from advancing and from threatening American lives and the lives of thousands of Iraqi families trapped on that mountain.
The first strike...two heavily-armed F-18 fighter jets launching from the carrier U.S.S. Bush in the Persian Gulf – roaring high above northern Iraq, where ISIS militants were at work shelling forces trying to defend the critical city of Erbil....Then, four hours later...an armed drone launching a Hellfire missile at a mortar position. When militant fighters returned to the site, the drone struck again. 6:20 P.M., four more F-18s, targeting a seven-vehicle militant convoy – the Pentagon says a total of eight bombs dropped – neutralizing the convoy and a mortar launcher....
Meanwhile, that other mission: to save lives on that mile-high mountain. At the top: tens of thousands of members of a religious minority – trapped for days by the ISIS militants, threatening them with death.
Journalist David Martin used the same labeling during his report on CBS Evening News:
DAVID MARTIN: ...Five hundred-pound laser-guided bombs hit a field gun Islamic militants were using to shell the city of Erbil in northern Iraq, where scores of American military personnel and diplomats are based. The F-18 jet fighters, which dropped the bombs, returned to the carrier George H.W. Bush in the Persian Gulf. Later in the day, U.S. aircraft carried out two more strikes against militant forces on the outskirts of Erbil....
The militants are known as ISIS, but are, in essence, the successors to al Qaeda in Iraq, and they have caught everyone by surprise with the effectiveness of their attacks and swiftness of their advance. Tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes, and the Pentagon now estimates 35,000 are stranded on a mountain surrounded by militant fighters....Getting the refugees off the mountain could require more U.S. airstrikes to help Iraqi or Kurdish forces establish a safe passage corridor through militant lines.
CBS correspondent Holly Williams then followed Martin, and used the same "militant" term. However, she included a detail often omitted by the Big Three networks: the fact that ISIS is also targeting Iraqi Christians for persecution.
HOLLY WILLIAMS (voice-over): ISIS is on Erbil's doorstep, as the militants extend the boundaries of what they call their own Islamic state. Erbil is a Kurdish stronghold, and Kurdish soldiers are the only ones still fighting ISIS on the ground in northern Iraq, after the Iraqi army ran away two months ago. But ISIS launched a new offensive this week, sending tens of thousands of people fleeing for their lives, many of them religious minorities – include Yazidis and Christians.
Yesterday, Kurdish fighters helped some Yazidi families escape the barren mountaintop where they've taken refuge from ISIS. Many say they were given a stark choice by the militants: convert to their strict version of Sunni Islam, leave their homes, or face death....
SCOTT PELLEY (live): Holly's joining us now. Holly, what's it like in Erbil tonight? Is there panic?
WILLIAMS: Well, Scott, people here tell us that two days ago, there was panic, in the sense that Erbil might soon fall to ISIS. Some people even fled the city. But now, people here seem to be more relaxed – and even hopeful – because they think that the U.S. airstrikes will give the Kurdish fighters the time and space they need to regroup, and then, push the militants back.
On Thursday, the MRC's Dan Gainor pointed out that the Big Three networks have followed a simple pattern with regard to the Islamic extremist group Hamas: "ABC, CBS and NBC journalists referred to Hamas as 'militants,' 'fighters' or 'soldiers' 13 times more often than they called them 'terrorists.' (65 stories to 5 stories.)"
I was going to say chickensh#ts, since they hide behind, torture and murder women and children.
In other words, Mohammedans.
I agree with you which is why I used the words Seemingly Separate Concepts.
The words Mohammedan and Terrorists are generally speaking not seen as being equal in the “public eye”. By combining them this might be more easily overcome.
Maybe the big three will refer to them as freedom fighters, and compare them to George Washington. They did it when Bush was President
“They took all the footage off my T.V.
Said it’s too disturbing for you and me
It’ll just breed anger that’s what the experts say
If it was up to me I’d show it everyday…”
Glad you posted that. The media collectively decided not to show the planes flying into the towers, not to show the people raiding our southern border, and that our states should be colored red.
You can add Fox to that list.
I think the proper phrase for them is “Subhuman Butchers”.
They are enemy islamist sympathizers whose historical connections with that philosophy leads directly to the nazis. Of this, the MSM is by all appearances, very proud.
it should also be widely noted that they won’t refer to them as Christians, either. They have been referred to as “religious minorities”. One must use deductive reasoning to determine that, and I would be willing to bet that half of the uneducated voting block can even spell it.
Note to talking heads... the use of superlatives is dangerous.
Not EVERYONE was caught by surprise by these terrorist thugs...
We could send ABC, NBC, and CBS pictures of beheaded children - with their little heads on sticks adoring city parks. The great handiwork of ISIS...
Maybe slaughtered headless children would convince liberal elite jerks. Probably not - these out of touch elitists think of ‘terrorists’ as ‘conservative middle class Americans’... Do you hate them? Yes.
And they wonder why no one trusts them... or likes them... or watches...
The media supports Hamas. We shouldn’t be surprised that they also support ISIS, no matter how many children IS crucify’s and behead.
We could send ABC, NBC, and CBS pictures of beheaded children - with their little heads on sticks adoring city parks. The great handiwork of ISIS...
They already have the pictures. Doesn’t seem to bother them.
The Big three networks need to report the truth. Anyone can see the truth right here ( warning, graphic footage):
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=44e_1406655216
Genocide has been happening for months.Obama means to send in a few planes and convince the USA “nothing to see here, move on.”( translated:”leave my boys alone!”)
Obama has unleashed this ISIS scourge on humanity and he effin well needs to stop it. Or eles we we stop HIM!
See it ALL on this site:
They should send reporters to the front lines and ask any that come back alive what they think they should be called.
The ISIL are not terrorists. They are conducting a conventional war and therefore should be called warriors.
The fact they are Islamic fanatics does not mean their current military actions are terrorist in nature.
If they succeed and then conduct acts of terror on Paris or London or Philadelphia, the same individuals can be called terrorists.
Why not just call them head-choppers?
Satans Soldiers, and they are already here amongst us taking away our loved ones. And they have taken over higher levels of position to restrain any organized attempts to stop them.
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