More in the cross-post on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.
During the five minutes of coverage that Thursday's NBC Today provided on President Obama reopening diplomatic relations with Cuba, only twenty-three seconds was devoted to critics of the controversial move. In addition, the only opponent featured was Republican Senator Marco Rubio, despite Democratic Senator Robert Menendez equally condemning the presidential action.
At the top of the show, co-host Savannah Guthrie proclaimed: "New era. The President's surprise move to restore U.S. relations with Cuba after fifty years of hostility. A history-making decision being praised by some, criticized by others." Such a tease would suggest equal time to both sides on the issue, but a sixteen-second soundbite of Rubio was relegated to the end of a report from correspondent Andrea Mitchell, who portrayed the Florida lawmaker as having "led the Republican opposition to the historic policy shift."