All three networks on Monday thrilled over the "historic" opening of a Cuban embassy in Washington D.C. ABC offered the friendliest coverage to the communist regime, completely avoiding any mention of the country's human rights crimes or of the protests outside the new embassy.
Instead, World News anchor David Muir marveled, "The historic moment. Fifty four years later, the Cuban flag flying in the U.S... We are just back from Washington tonight where history was made today." Despite getting a chance to talk to Cuba's foreign minister, he asked Bruno Rodriguez no tough questions about oppression in Cuba.
Instead, Muir threw softballs, including these two: "Did you ever think that this day would come?... Do you think your current president, President Castro, will come visit the United States?"
On NBC's Nightly News, Andrea Mitchell celebrated:
ANDREA MITCHELL: And here at the new Cuban embassy you can hear the Latin beat. They're still celebrating in the streets. History was indeed made today when diplomatic relations were restored between the United States and Cuba after 54 years.
(In April of 2014, Mitchell appeared on MSNBC and celebrated Castro's 88th birthday.) Mitchell, unlike Muir on ABC, at least noted that at the new embassy in D.C. "protesters from both sides faced off against each other."
USA Today noted the protests:
Monday's events at the Cuban Embassy drew pro- and anti-Cuban protests. Chants of "Viva Cuba" and "Viva Fidel" competed against those of "Free Cuba" and "Cuba, forever socialist." One man was arrested after throwing a red paint bomb into a crowd.
"I am here to see a day of infamy," shouted Frank Calzon, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, a Washington group that opposes any opening with Cuba.
On the CBS Evening News, Charlie Rose trumpeted that "foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan witnessed the history-making moment in Washington." In contrast to Muir, Brennan observed, "The Obama administration has vowed to press the Cuban dictator on human rights violations and economic freedoms." However, she skipped the protests at the embassy.
On Monday morning, the same networks cheered the "historic new era."
A transcript of the July 20 World News segment:
6:30 tease
DAVID MUIR: The historic moment. Fifty four years later, the Cuban flag flying in the U.S. Tonight I'll take you inside the Cuban embassy
6:42
DAVID MUIR: We are just back from Washington tonight where history was made today. After more than five decades, the Cuban flag is flying in our nation's capital again. Tonight, I take you inside the Cuban embassy where we asked will president Raul Castro come to the U.S and will President Obama be welcomed in Cuba? Just inside the gate at the Cuban embassy in Washington today, the first thing we notice: the empty flagpole. Fifty years have gone by, no flag. A crush of cameras across the street, more than five decades since the U.S. cut off ties with Fidel Castro's Cuba, The era of Americans vacationing and gambling.
VOICE: The Monte Carlo of Americas.
MUIR: Just 90 miles off the coast of Florida, long ago silenced. Today, a new chapter. The Cuban flag flying again. The curtain removed from the plaque now reading, the Cuban embassy again and the foreign minister who works with President Raul Castro sitting down with us. Did you ever think that this day would come?
BRUNO RODRIGUEZ (Cuba's foreign minister): Certainly, certainly.
MUIR: You did?
RODRIGUEZ: I was always sure that these -- this would happen but I didn't know when.
MUIR: Our trip to Cuba just this year, the average family there making under $30 a month. The children hadn't seen an iPhone before. They tell me they want to see the United States. While back in Washington today at the top of the stairs, we find the same Cuban flag, taken down all those years ago. This flag was saved as a premonition that this --
RODRIGUEZ More than a premonition.
MUIR: And the day has come.
RODRIGUEZ: Certainly.
MUIR: But there are major hurdles ahead. The economic embargo still in place. Congress must approve lifting it. Already American cruise lines getting ready. Airlines ready too. And tonight, the line outside the American embassy in Havana growing and we ask if Fidel Castro brother's Raul, who is now president, will make the trip to the U.S.? Do you think your current president, President Castro will come visit the United States?
RODRIGUEZ: I'm sure. But I don't know when.
MUIR: And president Obama visiting Cuba?
RODRIGUEZ: Let me say that President Obama would be really welcome in Havana city.
MUIR: Cuba's foreign minister sitting down. The Cuban embassy re-opened in Washington.
