The same day the MRC published a letter signed by more than thirty conservative leaders calling out the broadcast networks for failing to report on the extent of Christian genocide in Muslim-majority nations, ABC, CBS and NBC missed an opportunity to report on that very subject.
August 10 - the day of the letter's publication - also marked the State Department's release of the International Religious Freedom Report. MRC research finding that the media had been downplaying the plight of Christians was prescient, as none of the networks mentioned the report or the press conference at which it was released.
During Wednesday's press briefing, Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated the words of Secretary of State John Kerry by using the label “genocide” to describe ISIS’ targeting of Christians. “This past March, Secretary Kerry made clear his judgment that Daesh [ISIS] is responsible for genocide against religious communities in areas under its control,” he said. “Daesh kills Yezidis because they are Yezidi, Christians because they are Christian, Shia Muslim because they are Shia.”
Later Wednesday morning, Ambassador-at-Large David Saperstein exclaimed that he also was “extremely proud of the genocide determination” that Kerry had made earlier this year. “The Secretary insisted that we very carefully document and take the time to do it right, gather the evidence that would allow for his ability to make a fact-based determination in his best view as to whether or not genocide had happened,” he explained to the crowd of journalists gathered in the press briefing room.
In March, ABC and NBC used the designation “genocide” when quoting Kerry, but it was for just the second time in more than two years. CBS didn’t mention Kerry’s verbiage. And from March 30 through August 10, 2016, the network morning and evening shows made no on-air references to the anti-Christian genocide perpetrated by ISIS and other Muslims on three continents.
Instead of highlighting the briefing this week, the media reported extensively on Donald Trump’s inflammatory assertions about President Obama and Hillary Clinton’s supposed involvement in founding ISIS.
