On Tuesday night, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC saw no reason to inform their viewers of Secretary of State John Kerry’s assertion that he could recognize there having been a “rationale” and “particularized focus” for Islamic terrorists to carry out the January attacks in Paris on the offices of Charlie Hebdo but not for the “indiscriminate” attacks that occurred in the very same city on Friday.
Speaking in Paris, Kerry first declared that, compared to Friday’s terrorist attacks, “there’s something different that happened with Charlie Hebdo, and I think everybody would feel that.”
Kerry further elaborated that, in January, “[t]here was a sort of particularized focus and perhaps even a legitimacy in terms of — not a legitimacy, but a rationale that you could attach yourself to somehow and say, okay, they’re really angry because of this and that” whereas “[t]his Friday was absolutely indiscriminate.”
While each of the network evening newscasts sent a network personality to interview Kerry, none of them added these comments as an addendum to any of their stories centered around the terror attacks.
On the CBS Evening News, anchor Scott Pelley was shown pressing Kerry on the U.S. so-called strategy for defeating ISIS by pointing out “that never in history has an air campaign accomplished the goals that you just set out in this interview” to (as the administration often calls it) ultimately degrade and destroy ISIS.
As part of ABC chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz’s report on airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria, she touted Kerry’s pledge to foreign correspondent Alex Marquardt that “[t]he United States has been steadily ramping up over the course of these last months.”
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Over on NBC Nightly News, Holt let Kerry off the hook for admitting that he “was shocked” but “not surprised” by Friday’s Islamic terrorist attacks because ISIS fighters “have gained great expertise over a period of time and they have some people in ISIS who have been fighting in the terror network for a period of time, so they have access to C-4 and they have access to explosives.”
Meanwhile, FNC’s Special Report did indeed allude to Kerry’s disturbing justification of the Charlie Hebdo attacks at the tail end of correspondent Rick Leventhal’s live segment from Paris. Host Bret Baier noted that the comments “raised eyebrows there and here.”
Leventhal provided some background before reading Kerry’s full comments:
Yeah, he was making some remarks and he was referring to the Charlie Hebdo attacks from January. In that case, you may remember the terrorists justified the slaughter of people in the editorial office because of cartoons that they had published that made fun of the prophet Mohammed. Well, the secretary of state seemed to give some rationale to that attack. He said “there’s something different that happened with Charlie Hebdo, and I think everybody would feel that. There was a sort of particularized focus and perhaps even a legitimacy in terms of — not a legitimacy, but a rationale that you could attach yourself to somehow and say, okay, they’re really angry because of this and that. This Friday was absolutely indiscriminate.” He went on to say that people were being targeted just for being people, different than the terrorists themselves.
The relevant portion of the transcript from FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier on November 17 can be found below.
FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier
November 17, 2015
6:04 p.m. EasternBRET BAIER: I want to ask you one thing, something else that Secretary of State Kerry said in Paris, raised eyebrows there and here.
RICK LEVENTHAL: Yeah, he was making some remarks and he was referring to the Charlie Hebdo attacks from January. In that case, you may remember the terrorists justified the slaughter of people in the editorial office because of cartoons that they had published that made fun of the prophet Mohammed. Well, the secretary of state seemed to give some rationale to that attack. He said “there’s was something different that happened with Charlie Hebdo, and I think everybody would feel that. There was a sort of particularized focus and perhaps even a legitimacy in terms of — not a legitimacy, but a rationale that you could attach yourself to somehow and say, okay, they’re really angry because of this and that. This Friday was absolutely indiscriminate.” He went on to say that people were being targeted just for being people, different than the terrorists themselves. Brett?
BAIER: Okay, Rick Leventhal, live from Paris. We’ll get reaction to that in a bit. Rick, thank you.
