On Monday, CBS This Morning was alone among the morning newscasts in ignoring Guatemala's announcement that it will be first to follow the U.S. lead and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and move its embassy there. The CBS Evening News also avoided mentioning Guatemala as ABC's World News Tonight and the NBC Nightly News were both preempted.
Update: On Tuesday, CBS This Morning finally mentioned Guatemala recognizing Jerusalem.
Given the fact that other nations recognized Israel in 1948 only after the U.S. went first, such an event in modern times could similarly be historically significant.
CBS This Morning news reader Tony Dokoupil on Monday managed to omit the Guatemala angle even while noting that President Donald Trump "stoked regional tensions" by recognizing Jerusalem, as the CBS correspondent informed viewers that Pope Francis had called for a two-state solution in his Christmas message.
At 7:04 a.m. ET, CBS's Dokoupil informed viewers: "Celebrations marking the holiday are taking place across the world the morning. At the Vatican, Pope Francis delivered the traditional Christmas Day message from the central balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square. The Pope called for a negotiated two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
He added: "Then he said there should be a peaceful coexistence with mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders. His comments come after President Trump stoked regional tensions when he recognized Jerusalem as Israeli's capital."
By contrast, at almost the same time on ABC's Good Morning America, news reader Ron Claiborne informed viewers: "And Guatemala is following the U.S. lead and says it will move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The president of the Central American nation made that Christmas Eve announcement on Facebook. Guatemala was one of only nine countries to vote against a UN resolution condemning U.S. recognition of Israel's capital."
And at 7:03 a.m. ET, on NBC's Today show, during a longer story on domestic political news and the President, correspondent Garrett Haake recalled: "And finally the President will wake up this morning a political Christmas gift under his tree from the Central American country of Guatemala, who announced overnight that they, too, will be moving their embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, the first such country to follow the U.S.'s lead since our announcement earlier this month."
About an hour later, NBC ran a nearly identical report.
Additionally, CNN's New Day ran three briefs on the subject, and FNC's Fox and Friends ran two briefs. MSNBC's First Look ran two briefs during the 5:00 a.m. ET hour, and and a brief also ran at about 8:30 a.m. during a pre-recorded version of Morning Joe.
In the evening, FNC's Special Report with Bret Baier and the PBS NewsHour also mentioned the story, making CBS very much alone in not taking notice.
