Media Research Center President David Bozell and NewsBusters Executive Editor Tim Graham joined The Sean Spicer Show Monday night to dismantle the media’s reaction to the arrest of indicted Venezuelan narco-terrorist Nicolás Maduro, calling out the networks’ reflexive negativity and double standards when covering decisive U.S. action under President Trump.
Bozell zeroed in on what he described as the media’s signature “yeah, but” style of coverage, an instinct to minimize success by immediately shifting to criticism regardless of the outcome. From questioning why other criminals weren’t arrested to fretting over prison conditions, Bozell argued the networks simply could not bring themselves to credit a historic, precision operation. As he put it:
“George [Stephanopoulos]' commentary and line of questioning kind of follows along with all the other networks, right? I call it the 'yeah, but' tone and tenor of coverage, right? Nothing matters before the 'but.' So just a couple of things: Yeah, you got Maduro, but what about his underlings? What about the other five guys that you didn't get? Yeah, he was under indictment, but you didn't tell Chuck Schumer first. You didn't tell the UN first. Yeah, you got Maduro, but the hot new New York City mayor, he's really mad that you didn't tell him first.
This was the CBS one last night, I couldn't believe it—Yeah, you got Maduro, but the prison you put him in is very dirty. How dare you? I mean, I don't remember anybody in the networks complaining about prison conditions for Jan. Sixers. Never once. But Maduro gets sent to a federal compound in New York City, and CBS is out there talking about how dirty it is and how the food's not so great.”
Graham echoed that assessment, pointing to the media’s reliance on partisan “experts” and its selective outrage over legal authority, outrage that mysteriously disappears when Democrats carry out similar or far more expansive actions. He noted that journalists who demand congressional approval or international consent under Trump raised few objections during past Democratic administrations. He described it this way:
“What makes an expert that they want to use? And the obvious answer is whoever echoes the talking point they want made. And that talking point is generally a Democrat talking point, you know? The supreme irony with Stephanopoulos yelling about legal authority is the double standard between the parties.
Tim Kaine was all over radio and TV screaming about how this invasion or this action was illegal. George Stephanopoulos over at ABC, Barbara Walters was saying Obama's action was almost biblical. That's what we get. The spin is all politics all the time.”
Both Bozell and Graham praised Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s handling of hostile interviews, particularly his blunt responses to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos and CBS’ Margaret Brennan, whom they accused of asking bad-faith questions designed to undermine the administration rather than inform the public.
The segment underscored a familiar Media Research Center finding: when Trump succeeds, the press doesn’t debate whether the outcome was good for America. It debates process, tone, and hypotheticals to avoid giving credit. As Bozell put it, the story the media refused to tell was the simplest one of all: the United States captured a dangerous criminal without chaos, casualties, or apology.
