PBS NewsHour anchor Amna Nawaz joined the Friday edition of Jose Diaz-Balart Reports on MSNBC where she misrepresented PBS’s own polling data in order to portray Israel’s war against Hamas as much more polarizing than it actually is.
While discussing some members of Gen Z’s newfound respect for Osama bin Laden that they got from TikTok, Nawaz added, “But, let’s also mention this, there is a lot of space between supporting a terrorist leader as some of these videos purport to do and criticizing your own government and their foreign policy. And we’re also speaking at a time when we're seeing a lot of particularly young Americans increasingly uncomfortable with America's support of Israel and Israel's conduct in the war.”
To prove her point, Nawaz recalled that, “We had a poll out just earlier this week at PBS NewsHour with NPR and Marist in which it showed that some 38 percent of Americans said they believe that Israel's conduct and response to the war so far has been just about right. But also 38 percent believed it had been too much and why that’s noteworthy, is because it is 12 points higher than it was just a month ago and it now comprises the majority of Democrats.”
By portraying the poll as 38-38, Nawaz made it seem as if Israel’s war was extremely divisive because the viewer would likely assume the remaining 24 percent are in the “Don’t Know/No Opinion” category. In reality, 17 percent said Israel’s response has not been strong enough. If any other issue was 55-38, especially if it was an issue that showed the liberal position in the majority, MSNBC and PBS would not portray it as divisive.
Any honest discussion of the Democratic numbers would have to include progressive ideology and hypocrisies and the role of media coverage. Predictably, Nawaz didn’t want to talk about that. Instead, she declared:
So what we're seeing the longer the war this goes on and as people are watching and many have seen, I should mention, you know, I heard Congresswoman [Madeleine] Dean speaking so passionately and intimately about those horrific videos from October 7th, which I have also seen, these are things you will never, ever forget once you've seen them, but there is now millions of Americans also seeing horrific videos of the loss of life among Gazan civilians and they're increasingly uncomfortable watching this as this goes by and I asked actually Secretary of State Antony Blinken about this last night and he said it is gut wrenching, it is heartbreaking, but we have to ask what we would do if this was us, if it was happening to us and continues to defend America's position. Jose?
It also does not speak well of PBS and MSNBC that the group of Americans least supportive of Israel is the one that is most likely to get their news from outlets such as PBS and MSNBC.
Here is a transcript for the November 17 show:
MSNBC Jose Diaz-Balart Reports
11/17/2023
11:32 AM ET
AMNA NAWAZ: But, let’s also mention this, there is a lot of space between supporting a terrorist leader as some of these videos purport to do and criticizing your own government and their foreign policy. And we’re also speaking at a time when we're seeing a lot of particularly young Americans increasingly uncomfortable with America's support of Israel and Israel's conduct in the war. We had a poll out just earlier this week at PBS NewsHour with NPR and Marist in which it showed that some 38 percent of Americans said they believe that Israel's conduct and response to the war so far has been just about right. But also 38 percent believed it had been too much and why that’s noteworthy, is because it is 12 points higher than it was just a month ago and it now comprises the majority of Democrats.
So what we're seeing the longer the war this goes on and as people are watching and many have seen, I should mention, you know, I heard Congresswoman Dean speaking so passionately and intimately about those horrific videos from October 7th, which I have also seen, these are things you will never, ever forget once you've seen them, but there is now millions of Americans also seeing horrific videos of the loss of life among Gazan civilians and they're increasingly uncomfortable watching this as this goes by and I asked actually Secretary of State Antony Blinken about this last night and he said it is gut wrenching, it is heartbreaking, but we have to ask what we would do if this was us, if it was happening to us and continues to defend America's position. Jose?
