Weekend reporting of the latest round of anti-semitic protests, at Columbia University and elsewhere, yielded a mixed bag. ABC tried to bring balance to their reporting, NBC tilted heavily in favor of the protesters, and another, CBS, decided it was best not to report on the protests at all.
Here’s how ABC World News Tonight opened Sunday’s newscast:
LINSEY DAVIS: As we come on the air, New York authorities are issuing a warning ahead of Passover. Officials say the holiday, which begins tomorrow, may serve as a catalyst for extremist groups and individuals to commit acts of violence against Jewish faith-based communities. This comes as tensions are rising at Columbia University here in New York over the Israel-Hamas war. More than 100 people have been arrested in recent days. A rabbi at the school confirms to ABC News that he strongly recommended to Jewish students that they go home and not return to campus because of what he calls extreme anti-semitism at the school. A New York congresswoman is calling for the university's president to resign. And tonight, The White House is condemning calls for violence against Jewish students.
Linsey Davis’s frame was most representative of the report, which mentioned the call for Jewish students to go home, and the NYPD’s warning of further violence to potentially coincide with the Passover holiday. ABC here is further reinforcing Columbia’s stated commitment to ensuring the safety of its Jewish students.
NBC’s report was the mirror opposite, very heavily favoring the protesters. Here’s how correspondent George Solis began his report:
GEORGE SOLIS: In New York City, just outside the Gates of Columbia University, massive protests filling the streets. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations appearing to grow on this fourth day since students set up an encampment on campus that led police in riot gear to make more than 100 arrests at the request of the university president earlier this week. Students tell us despite the risk of suspension, having their I.D. badges turned off and losing access to housing here on campus, they've re-established this encampment demanding the university divest from Israel.
Solis’ report would go on to equate these protesters with those who protested the Vietnam War. And other than the one Jewish student featured, it was all protesters: from the organizers, to featuring imagery of flyers created by the pro-Hamas Students for Justice for Palestine, which hailed the barbaric attacks of October 7th as “a historic win for the Palestinian resistance”.
This was too much, apparently, for CBS- which found themselves unable to break away from such pressing matters as Taylor Swift’s latest album and Earth Day propaganda, and therefore unable to cover an anti-semitism (and tangentially anti-Americanism) currently festering at our universities.
Click “expand” to view the transcripts of the aforementioned reports as aired on their respective weekend newscasts:
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
SUNDAY, APRIL 21st, 2024:
LINSEY DAVIS: As we come on the air, New York authorities are issuing a warning ahead of Passover. Officials say the holiday, which begins tomorrow, may serve as a catalyst for extremist groups and individuals to commit acts of violence against Jewish faith-based communities. This comes as tensions are rising at Columbia University here in New York over the Israel-Hamas war. More than 100 people have been arrested in recent days. A rabbi at the school confirms to ABC News that he strongly recommended to Jewish students that they go home and not return to campus because of what he calls extreme anti-semitism at the school. A New York congresswoman is calling for the university's president to resign. And tonight, The White House is condemning calls for violence against Jewish students. ABC's Reena Roy leads us off.
REENA ROY: Tonight, the NYPD issuing an alarming warning on the eve of Passover. Saying in a bulletin obtained by ABC News, that “extremist groups may view the holiday as an opportunity to perpetrate acts of violence or intimidation against Jewish faith-based communities”. Though the document cites no specific threats, it adds: "Jewish people and institutions continue to be the target of violent attacks, targeted harassment, hate crimes, and threats, especially since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war." It comes after a rabbi associated with New York City's Columbia University told Jewish students to go home this week, following pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus. Writing today in an email, "Columbia University's Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students' safety." Those protests began after the school's president was grilled on Capitol Hill about anti-semitism on campus.
U.S. REP. KEVIN KILEY: There's evidence of anti-semitism among professors on your faculty?
MINOUCHE SHAFIK: We have seen some cases and there have been consequences.
ROY: More than 100 demonstrators arrested on campus Thursday. The White House saying the Department of Education has launched an investigation into the incident.
KARINE JEAN_PIERRE: When students are subject to hostile environments because of their faith or ethnicity, schools must act. Students must be safe to learn.
ROY: And Linsey, tonight, Columbia is responding, saying that they are listening to concerns of Jewish students and providing them with additional support. Adding that students do have the right to protest, but not to disrupt campus life or intimidate others. Linsey.
DAVIS: And students at several universities are now planning rallies in support of those Columbia protesters. Reena, thank you.
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
SATURDAY, APRIL 20th, 2024:
JOSE DIAZ-BALART: Protests are expanding to college campuses around the country over Israel's war in Gaza. And heightened tensions at Columbia University tonight, just days after police were called in to clear out a protest encampment on campus. George Solis is there.
[ Chants ]
GEORGE SOLIS: In New York City, just outside the Gates of Columbia University, massive protests filling the streets. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations appearing to grow on this fourth day since students set up an encampment on campus that led police in riot gear to make more than 100 arrests at the request of the university president earlier this week. Students tell us despite the risk of suspension, having their I.D. badges turned off and losing access to housing here on campus, they've re-established this encampment demanding the university divest from Israel.
STUDENT: I was one of the students arrested, suspended by the university. All of these students know the risk, and they're showing up because they understand that in our numbers we have greater safety.
SOLIS: For some, the ongoing protests have led to discomfort even being on campus.
(JEWISH) STUDENT: They feel the campus is so toxic, so unwelcoming to Jewish students and people who diverge from this line.
[ Chants ]
SOLIS: And demonstrations are now spreading. Overnight, hundreds of Yale students camped outside a dinner for the university president to protest the school's investment in military weapon manufacturers. At UNC-Chapel hill, students set up their own encampment in solidarity with the Columbia students who were arrested this week. All as the national pro-Palestinian student group is calling for action on campuses nationwide.
[ Chants ]
Universities have a long history of political demonstration. Columbia famously seeing buildings overtaken in 1968 by anti-Vietnam war demonstrators.
STUDENTS: Revolution!
SOLIS: Tonight's protest on campus and out in the streets, once again making their stance known on a war raging overseas.
STUDENT ORGANIZER: It's been six months and the protests have only been getting bigger. And it says so much about the hope of this movement.
DIAZ-BALART: George Solis joins us from outside Columbia University. George, what is the police presence there like tonight?
SOLIS: Yeah, Jose, there's a large police presence here on the periphery of the campus. You can see it right behind me where protests are still growing strong at this hour. What's unclear tonight is if police are going to go back on campus to disperse the groups of students gathered there tonight. Jose.
DIAZ-BALART: George Solis in New York. Thank you.
