Sunday morning’s news typically shows the biggest headlines made during the week, but ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN all ignored the controversial remarks about race made by presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
In terms of coverage, there has been a significant downplaying of comments Biden made in a recent interview, including his “Are You a Junkie?” exchange with a Black Reporter and his comparison of the diversity of African-American and Latino communities, the latter resulting in a mea culpa by the former Vice President.
That lack of coverage included ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” CBS’s “Face The Nation,” “NBC’s” Meet the Press with Chuck Todd, “and CNN’s” State of the Union, “none of which mentioned Biden’s explosive remarks.
BIDDING GIFTS IGNORED BY PRIMETIME MSNBC SHOWS FOR 3 RIGHTS
“Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace” was the only show of the top five shows on Sunday to feature Biden’s gaffes on-air.
Both CNN and MSNBC have largely ignored Biden’s interview from the convention of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and the National Association of Spanish Journalists (NAHJ).
Biden had a hot exchange with CBS News correspondent Errol Barnett, who asked the former VP about whether he had taken a cognitive test.
FOLLOWING MEA CULPA, CNN, MSNBC CARRIER FOR VP NIGHT Virtual Ignoring LATEST GIFTS
“No, I did not take tests. Why would I take a test? Come on, man. That’s like you say, before you go on this program, you do a test whether you take cocaine or not. What do you think? Huh? are you a junkie? ”Biden told Barnett in the preview clip released Wednesday.
MSNBC called the “Are you a junkie?” gaffe twice Wednesday, once during the 11 a.m. timeslot and the other during the 11 pm timeslot. CNN completely missed the exchange.
In the full interview, which aired Thursday, Biden contrasted the Black and Latino communities, saying “unlike the African-American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes across different things. “
Later in the day, Biden reiterated those remarks while speaking at the National Association of Latino Elected Officials conference. In that appearance, he promised that if elected, his administration would “reflect the full diversity of this nation” and “the full diversity of Latino communities.”
MSNBC completely ignored Biden’s “various” comments until Friday morning, which was after Biden “clarified” his comments on Twitter. Meanwhile, CNN dealt with it only once on Thursday and that was when anchor John King appeared to defend the Democratic candidate against attacks he had received from President Trump.
During prime time, MSNBC aired three straight nights without mentioning Biden’s gaffes. CNN had only one mention of the comments Friday night. Anchor “Cuomo Prime Time” anchor Chris Cuomo, however, strangely did not play the actual clip from Biden’s interview.
Instead, Cuomo read Biden’s remarks – about “diversity” in the African-American community – aloud to discuss with his guest.
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On Sunday, CNN’s chief media correspondent Brian Stelter not only downplayed Biden’s remarks, but defended him from right-wing media criticism.
“I’m not here to claim Joe Biden perfectly,” the host ‘Reliable Sources’ told a panel. “He screwed up a few times in an interview with underage journalists … but I’m here to say that Joe Biden is not invalid!”
That was the only mention Stelter made of Biden’s remarks during his entire show.
