Coverage of US troops’ exit from Iraq illustrates stark differences in cable news networks

Coverage of Iraq exit shows networks’ differences

NEW YORK — Coverage of the last American combat brigade to leave Iraq put the difference between the cable news networks in stark display.

MSNBC devoted its entire prime-time coverage to the story Wednesday, with Richard Engel riding with the troops in a specially equipped vehicle. Host Rachel Maddow was stationed in Baghdad, while Keith Olbermann anchored it all from New York.

Meanwhile, Fox News Channel devoted just under 10 minutes to the story after 7 p.m. Wednesday, much of it in Shepard Smith’s newscast. Instead, the network’s lineup spent 45 minutes discussing construction of an Islamic center near ground zero.

The differing priorities led critics of both networks to suggest politics was at work.

CNN spent an hour on each story.