NBC and ABC Tout Obama ‘Taking Off the Gloves’ Against ISIS, Skip Criticism

July 7th, 2015 12:25 PM

On Monday evening, both NBC Nightly News and ABC’s World News Tonight touted President Obama claiming success in the fight against ISIS while ignoring criticism of his strategy. On Nightly News, anchor Lester Holt proclaimed: “A warning today from President Obama, who emerged from a Pentagon briefing and called the fight against ISIS a quote, ‘generational struggle,’ saying it will take time to defeat this enemy.”

On World News Tonight, correspondent Brian Ross declared: “President Obama announced the U.S. is stepping up its attacks on ISIS leaders and recruiters in Syria, taking off the gloves.” Ross added: “The President cited the attack on a Mohammed cartoon contest in Texas as the sort of threat the U.S. now faces.”

Monday’s CBS Evening News failed to cover Obama’s remarks, but a news brief was included on Tuesday’s CBS This Morning, with fill-in co-host Anthony Mason reporting: “Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey face tough questions this morning at a Senate hearing on ISIS. But after a series of U.S.-led air strikes in Syria this weekend, President Obama says the coalition is making progress.”

After a soundbite played of Obama, Mason actually cited one of the President’s most vocal critics: “Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain says the President’s comments reveal what he called a ‘disturbing degree of self-delusion by the administration.’”

All of the broadcast networks skipped the most controversial portion of Obama’s statement: “This broader challenge of countering violent extremism is not simply a military effort. Ideologies are not defeated with guns, they are defeated by better ideas and more attractive and more compelling vision.”

In addition, all three networks failed to remind viewers that Obama called ISIS a “jayvee” team in 2014, before he decided to start “taking the gloves off” on Monday.