The Watchdog with David Bozell

Let me ask you a simple question: whose side are the media on these days?

Take CNN. For years, people joked it stood for the “Clinton News Network.” Watching the latest coverage of Iran, you could almost call it the “Cleric News Network.” Same reflex, different regime.

It probably didn’t hurt that Iran granted CNN permission to operate inside the country. That access seems to come with a price. CNN leaned heavily on Iranian officials to describe U.S. and Israeli strikes as reckless, while barely mentioning the precision targeting used by American and Israeli forces. Those forces go to extraordinary lengths to avoid civilian casualties. Iran, by contrast, fires missiles at airports, resorts, and residential areas.

Over on Meet the Press, Kristen Welker gave Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, a remarkably smooth ride. He was able to call the strikes “unprovoked,” deny responsibility for civilian attacks, and repeat the regime’s talking points — all without much pushback.

Then things got even stranger on MS NOW. Commentator Mehdi Hasan, appearing on All In With Chris Hayes, called the U.S. Navy’s sinking of an Iranian frigate a “moral abomination,” and went so far as to claim American sailors were “worse than Nazis” for supposedly letting Iranian sailors drown. That conveniently ignores the frigate’s role in Iran’s aggression and basic naval realities. The submarine’s job was to neutralize the threat, not run a rescue mission.

Watching all of this, I couldn’t help thinking about the days when Wolf Blitzer reported on the Gulf War during Operation Desert Storm. The coverage was serious, straightforward, and focused on facts.

Those days feel very far away.

When news outlets echo the talking points of hostile regimes, give their officials soft interviews, and accuse American service members of war crimes, the question almost answers itself: whose side are they on?

At MRC, we’re going to keep documenting it and calling it out.

And we can do that because of you. Thank you for standing with us.

​​​​​​​Take it easy, 

David Bozell
President