NBC Spotlights American Yazidis' Anguish For Iraqi Kin Persecuted By ISIS; ABC, CBS Yawn

Matthew Balan | August 15, 2014
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[More in the cross-post on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.]

NBC Nightly News was the sole Big Three evening newscast on 15 August 2014 to cover ISIS's ongoing rampage against non-Muslims in northern Iraq. Chris Jansing filed a full report on the heartbreak for a Yazidi community in Nebraska who have lost family to the Islamist group's campaign of terror. By contrast, ABC World News and CBS Evening News both found time to air news briefs on the historical gaffe in a photo promoting the new season of PBS's Downton Abbey.

Jansing interviewed several Yazidis for the segment, who detailed the atrocities that ISIS is inflicting on their minority community:

CHRIS JANSING: ...Julia escaped a refugee camp during the first Gulf War, and is now a fourth grade teacher in Lincoln. Her uncle sent video of the school where he lives with 700 others who escaped off Mt. Sinjar. Food and water are still scarce. (audio recording of man speaking in foreign language) He tells her horrifying stories about a market run by ISIS.

JULIA: They're – they're selling Yazidi women in the Tal Afar market right now for about a couple of dollars.

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