The mainstream American news media has conspicuously avoided laying any blame on President Barack Obama in its coverage of the surge of unrest in the Middle East, according to Tim Graham, director of media analysis for the Media Research Center.
“They basically said this is going really badly and then didn't really connect it in any way to Obama's withdraw[al],” Graham told Newsmax TV host J.D. Hayworth on the “America’s Forum” program.
“It's interesting because their coverage of the country itself, the scene itself, is very dark,” he said. “Terry Moran is on the scene for ABC, and even while they're not mentioning Obama, they're talking about how bleak it looks or how severe these Islamic jihadists are. You almost would think that in the absence of a Dick Cheney coming in and saying 'I told you so,' that might have put them more on the Obama defensive."
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American media outlets generally dislike international coverage – “they are much more comfortable doing stories on peanut butter and whether it sticks to the roof of your mouth” -- according to Graham, who said they should at least be lauded for devoting significant air time to what’s going on in Iraq.
Even though the media isn’t drawing a nexus between the president and the problems in the Middle East, it’s still “bad news” for him, his approval ratings and his legacy, Graham said.
The pass being given to Obama is a stark contrast to his predecessor, President George W. Bush, who Graham noted was a constant target of the media, repeatedly blasted for being a “failure.”
Despite the media’s love affair with Obama, it doesn’t change the reality of the situation, Graham said.
“It is funny in a sense and that is that is that this has been a very bad month or very bad two or three weeks for Barack Obama,” he said. “The news media has had sort of a hard time digging him out of it. we went from the VA scandal getting very serious, they tried to fix it with the Bowe Bergdahl deal and that was a bad week, and now here's another bad week for Obama.”
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