ABC: The 'Anyone But Catholics' Network

From: Media Research Center

According to an analysis by the Media Research Center, the three broadcast networks are using the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI to advance their left-wing social agenda and attack the Catholic Church’s centuries-old doctrine on the priesthood, abortion, and gay marriage. While NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News predictably dwelled on scandals and the Pope’s “conservatism,” their anti-Catholic coverage paled in comparison to the disgraceful onslaught on ABC World News.

During last night’s ABC World News broadcast:              

• In an interview with New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Diane Sawyer asked if the, “burden of what the Church has been through with the scandals” caused the Pope’s resignation – with absolutely no basis in fact.

• During the same interview, “reporter” Sawyer brazenly editorialized saying, “There has to be fundamental change” to the Church’s positions on social issues.

• Posing as a papal historian, Jeffrey Kofman declared that the Pope’s, “papacy will be remembered for its scandals.” This supposed authority on the Catholic Church then said that Benedict had, “tried to hold back the forces of modernity.”

• ABC correspondent Cecilia Vega, according to Sawyer, “spent the day gathering American reaction from all over,” but then delivered reaction only from liberal Catholics who pushed ABC’s liberal narrative that the Church must “modernize.”

• ABC didn’t name a single accomplishment of Benedict XVI.

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell reacts:

“The liberal media’s snarling, bigoted anti-Catholicism is on full display, and ABC World News has won the race to the bottom. Instead of reporting the historic news of Pope Benedict’s resignation, Diane Sawyer – who calls herself a Catholic – and Disney-owned ABC News used the opportunity to bludgeon the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict with every left-wing grievance imaginable. It was a disgusting and deeply offensive assault on the Church.

“It is indefensible that on the same day this major story broke, ABC World News refused to mention a single accomplishment during Pope Benedict’s tenure, even on lefty-approved environmental issues. It demonstrates the contempt that ABC News and Sawyer have for the Pope and for the Church. Sawyer’s stunning editorializing that, “There has to be fundamental change,” is disgraceful and unprofessional. Who is Diane Sawyer to demand changes to thousands of years of Catholic doctrine? She and The Walt Disney Company owe 1.2 billion Catholics an apology. And she should go to Confession.”