When President Trump bombed Iran, the Media Research Center snapped in to defense mode, justifying the strike and attacking anyone who criticized it:
- ABC’s Karl Suggests Bombing Iran Will Prompt ‘Significant Blowback’ From MAGA
- Iran Strike: AOC Launches Impeachment Assault as NYT Unleashes Skepticism
- WashPost Touts Khamenei as Man With an ‘Easy Smile’ and Love of ‘Poetry’
- ‘Unlikely, Unlikely, Unlikely’: MS NOW’s Barry McCaffrey Predicts Failure In Iran
- Brave CBS Austin Reporter REFUSES to Downplay Support for Operation Epic Fury
- ‘Old Grievances’; ABC, NBC Seethe Over Trump Attacking Iran ‘Without Evidence’ of Threats
- The View Compares U.S. Striking Iran to Russia Invading Ukraine
- Editor’s Pick: Free Beacon DESTROYS NYT Reporter Over Iran War Hot Take
- MS NOW Itches for High Casualties to Hurt Trump, All Operation Plans
The defense also included a March 1 post by Steve Malzberg, who lashed out at Rep. Jason Crow for calling Trump a “five-time draft dodger”:
A journalist might have pointed out to Crow that it would be rare for a president to be sending his kids to war, and that Donald Trump isn’t unique among politicians. He received 5 deferments during the Vietnam War, as did Joe Biden, and Bill Clinton reportedly did his best to avoid serving. Barack Obama never served. But [CNN’s Kaitlan] Collins did not bring any context to Crow’s hot take.
Is Malzberg saying that nobody at the MRC ever denounced Clinton as a draft-dodger?
Jorge Bonilla labored heavily to spin away the U.S. bombing of a girls’ school in Iran, killing dozens:
When the United States is engaging her enemies, you can always count on her media to parrot enemy propaganda. ABC’s This Week twice cited Khomeinist regime media and unthinkingly echoed its attribution of a school impact to the United States and Israel within its recap of Operation Epic Fury.
The first mention does not directly implicate the United States in the bombing of the school, but nonetheless leaves little to the imagination:
[…]It is when correspondent Ian Pannell wraps up his live hit that he directly accuses the United States and Israel of bombing the school in Minab, which killed around 150 persons.
[…]After the first mention of the school strike, there was a passing mention of U.S. Central Command stating that they are investigating the strike and affirming that they would never deliberately target a school in this manner, However, there was no such clarifier after the second mention of the school strike. There was no mention whatsoever of Israeli denials of targeting the school.
Likewise, there was no mention of reporting that points to the possibility of an Iranian missile misfire. The school in question sits about 650 yards from an IRGC naval base and a misfire is well within the realm of possibility given that the same thing often happened in Gaza. Likewise, these misfires were often blamed on Israel.
With so much going on in the early fog of war, there will often be a need to correct early reporting. This is why it is reckless to report with nonexistent certainty that the U.S. and Israel hit the school in Minab, especially when citing the Iranian regime media as a source.
Inelegantly phrased, perhaps. But the underlying sentiment — that sacrifice serves a larger cause — is deeply rooted in American wartime rhetoric. In the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln honored Union soldiers with the hope “that these dead shall not have died in vain.”
Bonilla calls this “firefighting” when someone in the non-right-wing media does it — but he won’t apply the word to his own work.
Mark Finkelstein, meanwhile, played semantics:
On Sunday’s edition of MS NOW’s The Weekend: Primetime, co-host Catherine Rampell labeled President Trump’s comments about U.S. service members killed in the Iran conflict “relatively callous.”
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) agreed: “That’s the word I’ve used as well.”
Moments earlier, however, the show had aired a clip of Trump saying: “We pray for the full recovery of the wounded and send our immense love and eternal gratitude to the families of the fallen. America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against basically civilization.”
Callous?
Rampell instead focused on a separate Trump comment to NBC News: “We expect casualties, but in the end it’s going to be a great deal for the world.”
[…]Inelegantly phrased, perhaps. But the underlying sentiment — that sacrifice serves a larger cause — is deeply rooted in American wartime rhetoric. In the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln honored Union soldiers with the hope “that these dead shall not have died in vain.”
Just like a right-wing writer to defend a right-wing president’s military action.