CNN and MSNBC failed to provide any live coverage of a Thursday morning House Oversight Committee hearing on the terrorist attack on Benghazi. Fox News provided 74 minutes and 25 seconds worth of live coverage of the hearing and had multiple interview and analysis segments talking about the revelations in the hearing. MSNBC provided a small amount of coverage but did not air the hearing live whereas CNN viewers were not made aware of the hearing until 1:15 p.m. Eastern.
During the hearing, Brig. Gen. Robert Lowell, who ran intelligence at the U.S. African command the night of the attack, argued that they knew immediately the attack was not in response to an anti-Islamic video. [See video of Fox News’ coverage of the hearing below.]
Despite CNN and MSNBC’s lack of live coverage, all three cable networks covered the entirety of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s press conference on Tuesday, April 29. While CNN didn’t find time to provide live coverage of the hearing, they did have extensive coverage of the missing Malaysian plane.
Here’s how The Washington Times covered the hearing:
Retired Brig. Gen. Robert Lovell also told the House Oversight Committee that the decision not to respond with military action was likely have been made outside of the Defense Department. He said the military should have tried to mount an operation because there was no knowing how long the attack would last or whether it would expand.
“Basically, there was a lot of looking to the State Department for what they wanted and the deference to the Libyan people and the sense of deference to the desires of the State Department in terms of what they would like to have,” the general testified.
Under questioning from Rep. Elijah Cummings, Maryland Democrat, Gen. Lovell acknowledged that those efforts did happen. He said his message was that the military should have been better prepared, not that it didn’t try at all.
“My point is that there’s more that we should be able to do,” the general said. He said the problem wasn’t with the military, but that the interagency communication and interaction broke down.
