NBC Declines to Label Gunmen in TX Terror Shooting ‘Islamic Extremists’ or 'Terrorists'

In covering the failed terrorist attack at a Prophet Mohammad cartoon event in Texas, NBC neglected to describe the two gunmen on Monday evening as “Islamic extremists” or “terrorists” while all three English networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) prominently touted the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) description of AFDI as an “anti-Muslim” or “anti-Islamic” “hate group.”

NBC Nightly News interim anchor Lester Holt declared in a tease that “gunmen” had “opened fire at an anti-Islamist event in Texas” and later before correspondent Jacob Rascone’s report that “[i]t happened at a Dallas suburb where a group the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled an anti-Islamic hate group was holding a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest.”

On the subject of whether it was a work of terrorism, Holt only went as far as to note that “authorities are investigating it as a possible terror attack.” As for Rascon, the NBC News correspondent continually referred to the terrorists as only “gunmen” or “suspects” and parroted the SPLC’s label from Garland, Texas:

While the CBS Evening News also promoted the SPLC’s labeling of AFDI, the CBS newscast stood out in how it described those behind the shooting. Anchor Scott Pelley made the immediate connection to Islam in one of the show’s opening teases: “Islamic extremists open fire in a terror attack near Dallas. We now know who the suspects were.”

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