Pat Dollard

Tweet

This from an article by Scott Whitlock at Newsbusters:

While covering the breaking story on Tuesday of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s decision to step down from power, various “Good Morning America” anchors and reporters soft peddled the communist leader’s crimes. In a profile piece that narrated a brief history of his life, co-host Diane sawyer enthused, “Castro knew life is a stage and played the part of the dashing revolutionary coming to New York, getting rock star treatment.”

Now, she did add that many people overlooked the “ferocity of his communism, even as he bankrupted his country and history passed him by.” But over the course of five segments, GMA managed to completely ignore Castro’s record of firing squads, jailing dissidents, imprisoning AIDS patients and other crimes. Instead, Sawyer found time to romantically state, “The world’s longest-serving political leader is leaving on his own terms, having survived efforts by ten different U.S. presidents to bring him down…” Note the use of the term “political leader” rather than dictator.

During one segment in the 7am hour on reaction to Castro’s resignation in Miami, ABC reporter Jeffrey Kofman twice chose to denigrate Cuban refugees. He noted that in 2006, the city’s “so-called Cuban exiles” celebrated when Cuba’s dictator temporarily stepped aside. In a follow-up report later in the show, Kofman discussed how “the so-called Cuban exiles” had hoped for a transition to democracy after Castro. The ABC journalist didn’t bother to explain what he meant by the phrase “so-called.”

GMA also retrieved file footage from an old Sawyer interview with Castro (possibly from 1993). In the clip, Sawyer offered up softball questions such as “Do you believe there’s a heaven or a hell?” and “If you were inventing heaven, what would you make you sure you had there?” She followed that up by prompting, “I guess George Bush or Ronald Reagan wouldn’t go to heaven then.” Sawyer cheerfully summed up Castro’s legacy by asserting, “One half a century from a man who once said history may have derided him, but at least he stood for something.”

Finally, Robin Roberts spoke with ABC News consultant Wayne Smith about Castro and communism. She described Smith simply as a former “top U.S. diplomat in Cuba” without ever mentioning his work for Democratic presidents such as John Kennedy and for Jimmy Carter as the Chief of U.S. Interest Section to Cuba (equivalent to an embassy where diplomatic relations are nonexistent.) In light of such liberal credentials, his attack on the Bush administration for its unwillingness “to deal with the Cuban government” seems more explainable.” Smith also delivered leftist platitudes such as saying of Cuba: “Let’s begin a dialogue. We have differences. We have disagreements. But how do you address them unless you talk?”

Click here to read a transcript of the first two segments, which aired at 7:02am on February 19.