The anti-government protests targeting government and religious leaders sweeping across Iran took a bloody turn Sunday as overnight reports surfaces of two protestors being killed at the hands of the corrupt government. Disgustingly, the deaths didn’t trigger much air on the three major American networks. ABC’s Good Morning America had a blackout of the deaths and protests all together while NBC only found 24 seconds for them. CBS finally discovered the protests, as they continued into their fourth day, dedicating a meager 16 seconds.
Instead of allowing serious time for the brutal murders of Iranian civilians and the protests, whose marchers have been chanting “Death to Rouhani” and “We don’t want an Islamic republic,” NBC’s Sunday Today ran a four minute and 37 seconds long highlight reel of the media slamming and smearing President Trump from this past year.
Fill-in host Hallie Jackson’s news brief on the protests was pitiful and made it seem as though they were isolated to the country's capital city:
A semi-official news agency in Iran is reporting that two people have been killed in overnight protests there. These are the first deaths being attributed to the demonstrations which started Thursday. Thousands of people took to the streets of Teheran Saturday. Protesting the country's stagnant economy, alleged corruption and their government's involvement in conflicts in the region. President Trump on Twitter says the world is watching what happens there.
The ridiculousness of Jackson’s brief could only be outdone by what could arguably be called a terrible joke by Jane Pauley on CBS News Sunday Morning. “Thousands of protesters have taken to streets in cities across Iran. At least two people were killed after some protests turned violent. It's the biggest display of dissent since pro-reform rallies in 2009,” was all Pauley had to say after CBS had ignored the protests for three days.
These “reports,” or lack thereof, from the major networks, were an absolute mess and did a tremendous disservice to the people literally putting their life on the line in Iran to protest their government. They made the deaths sound almost accidental when the Iranian government meant to kill them. What they failed to mention was the Iranian government’s warning that protesters would “pay the price” for standing up and speaking out.
What else are the networks hiding from their viewers? The Iranian government had shut down parts of the internet, particularly social media sites, to curb the organization of dissenters. During the uprising in Doroud city, Iranian citizens stormed the local governor’s office and set it ablaze. There, local security forces fired their weapons at them and hit five people. And all across the country protestors are tearing down images of Ayatollah Khamany.
And while all of the liberal networks previously fawned over an image from a Black Lives Matter protest showing a girl in a sundress being arrested by officers in full riot gear as some sort of profound statement, they callously omitted the viral video of an Iranian girl who took off her hijab in protest of the treatment of women in Iran to wave it like a white flag.
The big three networks have a very disturbing history in backing Iran over the United States. They almost never report when the Iranian Revolutionary Guard harasses our navy at sea and the ignored the sentencing of an American citizen there on trumped-up charges. When President Trump issued new sanctions on Iran, CBS sympathized with the rogue regime. NBC recently sat down with President Hassan Rouhani, the man many Iranians are now calling for the death of, and bemoaned the Trump’s rhetoric with him. NBC also suggested Iran wasn’t really a threat to the region and it was only a ploy by Trump.
Transcripts below:
NBC
Sunday Today
December 31, 2017
8:12:15 AM EasternHALLIE JACKSON: A semi-official news agency in Iran is reporting that two people have been killed in overnight protests there. These are the first deaths being attributed to the demonstrations which started Thursday. Thousands of people took to the streets of Teheran Saturday. Protesting the country's stagnant economy, alleged corruption and their government's involvement in conflicts in the region. President Trump on Twitter says the world is watching what happens there.
...
CBS News Sunday Morning
December 31, 2017
9:04:45 AM EasternJANE PAULEY: Thousands of protesters have taken to streets in cities across Iran. At least two people were killed after some protests turned violent. It's the biggest display of dissent since pro-reform rallies in 2009.
