NBC's Today on Wednesday glossed over the State Department e-mails showing that the Obama administration knew that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya was carried out by terrorists. Their colleagues at ABC and CBS also minimized their coverage of this latest development, as they boosted the latest slam on Republicans from David Axelrod and the President's reelection campaign.
But all three network morning shows cordoned off significant amounts of air time to completely frivolous and celebrity-driven news stories. Here are some examples from Good Morning America, the Today Show, and CBS This Morning:
2.) three-plus minutes to the release of Apple's new mini-iPad.
3.) The piece de resistance for NBC: two and half minutes to the worst Halloween pun costumes.
4.) CBS This Morning: a 3 minute, 44-second interview of Sir James Dyson, the inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaner. That's over four times the amount of air time they gave to the State Department e-mails earlier in the broadcast.
5.) GMA: the wedding of Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel (3 minutes, 50 seconds)
6.) Also on GMA, 2 minutes and 23 seconds to a new development, but about the last episode of the 90s sitcom, Friends. Apparently, Ross and Rachel weren't supposed to have a happy ending. What a way to break eight-year-old news!
It's not that the Big Three can't find the hard news. They just choose to bury it, to help their liberal politician buddies get back into office.
