Out of sight, out of mind. That’s the message the broadcast networks sent Wednesday evening as ABC and CBS chose not to follow up with the over 100 Americans still trapped in Afghanistan, some even being held on airplanes on a tarmac; reminiscent of the Iranian hostage crisis. Meanwhile, these Americans President Biden abandoned were only an afterthought to NBC.
The superficial coverage on ABC’s World News Tonight ignored the pleading of trapped Americans but was very thankful that the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was returning this year (mask and vax required, of course). On CBS Evening News, anchor and baseball fan Norah O’Donnell was psyched about the Baseball Hall of Fame inducting Derek Jeter.
Americans left behind in a terrorist-controlled Hellscape was only worth one sentence from NBC chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell on Nightly News. “And then there are the Americans still trapped in Afghanistan, still with no clear path to escape,” she noted at the very end of a segment on all the dangers America faces on the foreign policy front.
Where the broadcast networks couldn’t bother, Fox News Channel’s Special Report showed up in spades; rhetorically kicking down the door to get to the story.
“Breaking tonight, Americans trying to leave Afghanistan are pleading with the Biden administration for help,” announced fill-in anchor and Fox News @ Night anchor Shannon Bream at the top of the show. “A number of them are on charter planes, still being blocked from leaving. The administration is blaming the Taliban but not everyone is buying that.”
Foreign correspondent Trey Yingst wasted no time in reporting how “charter flights from Afghanistan remain grounded” and there were “an estimated 100 Americans are still stuck in the country. A handful of them in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. They have planes but aren't permitted to take off.”
After playing a soundbite of Secretary of State Blinken finally admitting the Taliban were holding Americans at the airport (after denying the “hostage-like” situation on Tuesday), Yingst called him out for being part of the problem:
BLINKEN: As of now, the Taliban are not permitting the charter flights to depart. They claim that some of the passengers do not have the required documentation.
YINGST: While Secretary of State Antony Blinken blamed the Taliban for halted evacuation flights, a leaked email shows some aircraft are being denied takeoff by the State Department. A senior U.S. official says there is no way to vet who is boarding the planes, making the rescue missions susceptible to terrorism.
“With air traffic at a standstill, civilians and foreigners continue to flee on foot,” he added.
As NewsBusters reported on Tuesday, ABC tried to help Blinken and the State Department steal credit for getting an American family over the Afghan border. But in an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo that night, Republican congressional candidate Cory Mills, who personally went into Afghanistan to save the family, explained how the State Department only hampered their efforts and even threatened to blow up their charter flight.
This further abandonment of Americans citizen being held hostage by terrorists was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Progressive on ABC, Chase on CBS, and Amazon on NBC. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s Special Report
September 8, 2021
6:00:25 p.m. EasternSHANNON BREAM: Breaking tonight, Americans trying to leave Afghanistan are pleading with the Biden administration for help. A number of them are on charter planes, still being blocked from leaving. The administration is blaming the Taliban but not everyone is buying that. Correspondent Trey Yingst starts us off tonight from Doha, Qatar. Hello, Trey.
TREY YINGST: Shannon, good evening. There is tension on the ground in Afghanistan as the Taliban cracks down on protests and civilians try to flee.
[Cuts to video]
Charter flights from Afghanistan remain grounded. An estimated 100 Americans are still stuck in the country. A handful of them in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. They have planes but aren't permitted to take off.
SEC. OF STATE ANTONY BLINKEN: As of now, the Taliban are not permitting the charter flights to depart. They claim that some of the passengers do not have the required documentation.
YINGST: While Secretary of State Antony Blinken blamed the Taliban for halted evacuation flights, a leaked email shows some aircraft are being denied takeoff by the State Department. A senior U.S. official says there is no way to vet who is boarding the planes, making the rescue missions susceptible to terrorism.
With air traffic at a standstill, civilians and foreigners continue to flee on foot. Neighboring Pakistan said it's already deported around 50 families who crossed into the country without proper documentation.
MUNIR AHMED DURRANI (Pakistan DEP Commissioner, via translator): Pakistani government will remain the same. No illegal migrant will be allowed to enter our country. Thank god there hasn't been a huge influx of refugees so far.
YINGST: For those Afghans left behind, they face a Taliban that is consolidating power with a new government and cracking down on opposition.
Protests erupted again in the Afghan capital of Kabul as civilians demand their rights be respected and their country remain sovereign. Taliban fighters responded by firing their weapons in the air to disperse the crowd.
AFGHAN WOMAN (via translator) The Islamic government is shooting at our poor people. These people are very unjust and they’re not human at all. They do not give us the rights to demonstrate. They’re not Muslim but infidels as you can see the situation we are in. [Gunshots and screams]
[Cuts back to live]
YINGST: There are efforts underway right now to reopen Kabul’s international airport. If those talks with the Taliban are successful, it could provide a way out for some of those trapped. Shannon?
BREAM: That's good news. Trey Yingst, thank you very much.
