On the heels of the unquestioned feel-good story of the war in Iran---last weekend's heroic rescue of two American fighter pilots who were shot down in Iran---the legacy media has quickly moved on to its usual pastime, bashing President Trump and the war in general. The Media Research Center reports that legacy outlets mostly gave short shrift to the rescue operation before pivoting to their latest anti-Trump talking point, "war crimes." This matches their recent breathless coverage of high gas prices, another issue they seemed to have discovered only with Trump back in office.
"CBS News on Sunday morning gave the rescue mission a total of 43 seconds, and spent the rest of its four-and-half-minute segment accusing the president of war crimes," says David Bozell, MRC President. "The New York Times on Monday peppered the president with 'are you concerned your threat amounted to war crimes,' PBS brought on an expert accusing the president and War Secretary Pete Hegseth of already committing war crimes...they've become judge, jury and executioner on this!"
Bozell points out that not only is the media's "war crimes" coverage a wet blanket on the amazing rescue story, but it is hypocritical since Iran has been engaging in blatant war crimes since this conflict began. Things like firing at commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, attacking civilian targets in Israel and neighboring Middle Eastern nations, and using its own citizens as human shields against U.S. military targets all constitute war crimes...yet the media has not used the same rhetoric against Iran, nor against groups like Hamas and Hezbollah which regularly target civilians and violate international law.
In fact, the Iranian regime also claims President Trump's threatened strikes are war crimes...meaning the U.S. media now echoes the talking points of the Iranian government. "They are now just openly siding with terrorist regimes that have murdered thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of others in the last 50 years," says Bozell. "All because they hate Donald Trump so much and they do not want him to win this war."
Photo: Getty Images North America