NBC, true to form

In the wake of yesterday’s Cabinet fiasco, with the current occupant ranting or sleeping by turns, I wrote that I expected NBC Nightly News to lead, as usual, with weather: “Tonight, millions are under threat from severe weather,” and so on. NBC did not disappoint.

Last night’s opening: “Tonight, the massive winter blast pummeling millions right now.” The Cabinet meeting was the second story.

Notice the intro’s phrasing about Pete Hegseth’s role in killing the survivors of a first strike on a boat in the Caribbean: “What Pete Hegseth revealed about where he was when that controversial second strike was ordered.”

No, it’s not what Hegseth revealed ; it’s what he said : there should be no truth claim automatically attached to his words. And notice the passive voice “was ordered,” eliding the question of who gave the order. Strange how the words “where he was” (in another meeting, he says) instantly remove Hegseth from consideration.

And such tactful phrasing about the current occupant’s racist, xenophobic rant, which NBC called “the president’s fiery rhetoric on Somalians in America, seeming to say he doesn’t want them here.” Seeming ? Seriously?

And by the way, Somali is the preferred term. Someone at NBC ought to know that. And it’s not winter yet.

I like close reading the network news, but I just can’t do it every night. And this post covers just the first forty-five seconds of one night’s broadcast.