On Thursday evening, NBC Nightly News was again the first broadcast network evening newscast to highlight a Medal of Honor recipient -- only the third given for heroic action in Iraq, and the first to a sailor in that theater -- Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor. Williams observed:
This nation has a new Medal of Honor recipient, though he is not alive to accept the honor. Michael Monsoor was a U.S. Navy SEAL. He died in Ramadi in 2006 when he absorbed the blast of a grenade to save his entire unit. His commanding officer and his sister spoke today about the him and the nation's highest military honor.
Monsoor's platoon commander hailed his bravery: “He was a hero more than once and if I could cite every time he did a heroic action, he would have 35 or 50 medals to wear.”
Williams reported that on April 8 President Bush will present the medal to Monsoor's family and promised “that night on this broadcast we'll have the story his life and his heroism.” No doubt, the other networks will too that evening.
Last October, Williams and NBC were also ahead of the other networks in highlighting the previous Medal of Honor recipient. My October 16 NewsBusters item, “NBC First to Praise Medal of Honor Recipient Lt. Michael Murphy,” recounted:
The NBC Nightly News on Tuesday night became the first broadcast network evening newscast to highlight the first Medal of Honor award since Vietnam for a member of the Navy, announced last week, to Lieutenant Michael Murphy, a SEAL killed in combat in Afghanistan in June of 2005. "His story is already the stuff of legend," anchor Brian Williams related before Jim Miklaszewski recounted Murphy's heroism: How during a battle with Taliban fighters "Murphy stepped out into the line of fire to make a satellite call for help." A survivor recalled that Murphy "took two rounds to the back and dropped down on that rock and sat back up, picked the phone back up and started talking again." Standing by a memorial in Brookhaven, New York, Miklaszewski explained that in addition to the memorial, "they've named a park and post office after him. Monuments not only to what he did as a Navy SEAL, but to who he was as a man."
Miklaszewski got out of the way and allowed his story to end with two moving tributes from Murphy's parents. Dan, Michael's father, got the last word, a desire for appreciation: "While I'm crying inside and my heart's breaking, my chest is puffed out and I'm saying, my son, this is what he did and I hope the country appreciates it and realizes it."
The short segment on the Thursday, April 3 NBC Nightly News:
BRIAN WILLIAMS: This nation has a new Medal of Honor recipient, though he is not alive to accept the honor. Michael Monsoor was a U.S. Navy SEAL. He died in Ramadi in 2006 when he absorbed the blast of a grenade to save his entire unit. His commanding officer and his sister spoke today about the him and the nation's highest military honor.SETH STONE, PLATOON COMMANDER: He was a hero more than once and if I could cite every time he did a heroic action, he would have 35 or 50 medals to wear. Absolutely.
SARA MONSOOR, SISTER: We knew that if anything were to happen, Michael would be the first to jump in and try to fix it or solve it.
WILLIAMS: An April 8th President Bush will award the Medal of Honor to Monsoor's family and that night on this broadcast we'll have the story his life and his heroism.
April 1 Washington Post article: “SEAL Killed in Iraq to Get Medal of Honor”
An Orange County Register story posted April 3 about the remarks made about Monsoor on Thursday at the U.S. Navy Liaison Office in Los Angeles. Monsoor was from Garden Grove in Orange County, California.
The U.S. Navy's page paying tribute to Monsoor.
—Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center
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Comments Policy
Half-hearted Props to NBC
April 4, 2008 - 04:32 ET by sam.i.amI would love to give credit to NBC for a laudatory piece on Monsoor, but their coverage is two-faced.
MSNBC will use this posthumous award to highlight how Iraq is killing our young men. Olberman will continue to rant about this for his own purposes. Last night (in full BDS mode) he suggested that Bush kept sending soldiers back to Iraq as many times as it took to get them killed--in order that he doesn't need to "take care of them" when they return home.
He shamelessly tied this tragedy into Bush and McCain's lack of support for the new and improved G.I. Bill.
I suspect more of the same up through the Apr. 8 airing on NBC.
Don't be surprised if this isn't also a way to drive home numerous, unflattering, deceitful, and unrelated Iraq narratives on NBC over the weekend.
Well, sam...even if Olbie
April 4, 2008 - 06:29 ET by motherbeltWell, sam...even if Olbie and the others do use it for their own purposes, at least the man got the recognition he deserves from NBC first. Olbie and his ilk would use him, regardless.
Olbermann's condition shouldn't be minimized by calling it BDS...that makes it sound too cute and trendy. It should be described as incapacitating, pathological hatred. And including his self-indulgent, solipsistic "Special Comments," IMO he suffers from delusions of grandeur also.
I think he may be skirting the edge of clinical pathology.
Small print disclaimer: I'm no psychiatrist....that's just my layperson's take on it.....
Tip of the hat to Krauthammer
April 4, 2008 - 11:15 ET by sam.i.amI'm with you on your diagnosis, motherbelt. I wasn't trying to minimize Olbie's condition--it is very serious.
I was using the term BDS in honor of its creator, Charles Krauthammer. Both his articles and his commentary on Fox are superb. He is the anti-Olbie.
There are times (like this
April 4, 2008 - 04:37 ET by USA4freedomThere are times (like this up coming election) when I wonder to my self if this country has what it takes anymore. Then I read about the stories of these wonderful men and women that strap on their boots every day to fight for someone’s else’s freedom, some one else’s liberty. The rest of the world stands around complaining about us while enjoying their freedoms that for a large part have been purchersed with the lives of these brave men and women. Unselfish, brave, honorable, patriotic are just a few of the words that come to mind.
We all talk politics, but very few of these so-called leaders have a speck of character that these great people in our military have. While they squirm and spin on things like what the meaning of is, is? These people, face life and death situations each and every day, as a matter of fact.
God bless each and every one of you brave soldier, marines, airmen, and all the people that go to support these men and women, you with out a doubt are a huge cut above the rest, and that is maybe one of the years biggest understatements!
Duty, honor, country.
Ronald Reagan, 1962: I did not leave the Democratic party, the party left me.
Insert: your name, 2008, and the Republican party.
Romney / Jendil 2012 (if,we survive)
BD, is this the hero that
April 4, 2008 - 06:11 ET by Roger the ShrubberBD, is this the hero that the NYT kept ignoring?
Roger, that is
April 4, 2008 - 10:14 ET by BDRoger, that is correct.
The Navy Times published roughly the same story on 19 March. The supposed "Paper of Record", the New York Times, chose to wait until 1 April to publish their version of the story which did not vary significantly.
The LA Times which is the hometown newspaper of Monsoor who grew up in the LA area also published the story on the 1st of April.
In both cases I cannot find how far back in the paper both buried the story, I was hoping someone who gets hardcopy of these could lend me a hand on this.
Regardless of this, it makes you wonder why both newspapers sat on the story for 14 days before printing it whereever they did so. Not exactly red hot news by then.
I imagine they were hunting for dirt.... Finding none, they decided to publish when they got the word the others would publish.
Minor quibble BD...but the
April 6, 2008 - 12:41 ET by JerMinor quibble BD...but the very laudatory article regarding Monsoor appeared on the NYT website March 31.
Do you know when [and if] conservative newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times first published articles about Monsoor and his pending Medal of Honor? The Washington Times search engine indicates "no articles" relating to "Michael Monsoor".
WSJ requires subscription.
Jer
Michael Monsoor ...
April 4, 2008 - 07:00 ET by thoridfly... is what the United States military is all about.
"If I do my full duty, the rest will take care of itself." - Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.
A true hero. John 15:13
April 4, 2008 - 07:01 ET by JerryA true hero.
John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
When asked if he went to war with Iraq to derail the impeachment vote: “I don’t think any serious person would believe that any President would do such a thing." - President Clinton (Dec 1998).
Bravery that libs do not understand
April 4, 2008 - 08:08 ET by LionKingThis is true bravery and I would like to thank his family for his courage and his sacrifice.
Let's contrast this bravery with that of the liberal's favorite war hero, John F'ing Kerry. I wounded myself twice and left as soon as I got my 4 PH.
Liberals are all about self and entitlement...they cannot grasp this kind of selfless heroism.
Sociopathic behavior
April 4, 2008 - 08:24 ET by harqmanOlbie does indeed suffer from delusions of grandure. But his behavior is closer to sociopathic. As defined below:
a person, as a psychopathic personality, whose behavior is antisocial and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience.
He does not care about nor does he even understand the consequences of his actions of words. He gives comfort to the enemies of this country. He knows that but does not care. He cmpares Bush to Hitler and whines like my five year old daughter when any of his precious dems is even questioned about their stance on anything. He is clearly socially retarded. Take the paper throwing and the crumpled paper throwing. While it may seem trivial, he knows people think he looks like a High School sophmore at the school cable access station. But he pushes on, not careing what society thinks about him. While that is at time an admirable trait, when itbecomes abnormal, and it is, it becomes a problem.
The worst worser worstest thing he does. Yea whatever, it is stupid. But it screams his superiority issues. This idiot has been cancelled time and again. He loves to target Rush and Glenn. Two men that are more successfull then he could ever imagine. And it is all about ratings on tv and the radio as we know. So who he is is tied to how the world sees him. He is a failure compared to the two others.
It actually pains me to watch him. Small print...this is NOT a diagnosis. But I am not a layman. I have a MS in psych and I have seen more then my share of this type of behavior.
Heroes
April 4, 2008 - 08:33 ET by KC MulvilleThese men honor our country, and I'm glad the media gets this story out. I must say, when they actually tell the story, the Post and NBC do their job -- they let the heroism of these men speak for itself. They don't need to add any "Special Commentary" because the meaning is perfectly clear.
KC.... Exactly. My
April 4, 2008 - 15:14 ET by bigtimerKC....
Exactly.
My gratitude goes to all the military...
Monsoor...thank you...RIP.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
They never fail to amaze
April 4, 2008 - 08:47 ET by bassndudeThey never fail to amaze me. All of the Heros of the U.S. Military. Not because they have to, but because they want to. Not for self recognition, but from a sense of duty, to God and Country.
God bless them all.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
Beyond despicable...
April 4, 2008 - 11:28 ET by SickofLibsOf course this is not newsworthy... only the third MoH in the whole war. Now Kerry's (likely self-inflicted) third Purple Heart a few years back, that was news.
But what is REALLY BIG NEWS, really important, is a freakasoid 'mans-vestite' that's pregnant. You couldn't avoid this story, unless you were say, holed up in a cave in Afghanistan.
There's going to be a special new circle level in The Inferno just for the MSM, in case they don't realize it.
God Bless Mike Monsoor, the Seals and every single person serving in our military.