When a story ends the way the MSM doesn’t want to end, it has a simple solution. It largely ignores it.

Recently, Big Journalism’s Mark Klugmann illustrated how the MSM shaped the story concerning the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to fit a “pre-shaped comic book narrative.”

To be fair, ABC’s Charlie Gibson did, though, air an unbiased report during the early stage of the story.


But most of the MSM coverage leaned more toward that offered by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow who, at the 1:30 mark in this video, accused Senator Jim DeMint (R.SC) of committing treason by opposing the Obama administration’s support of Zelaya. (Watch the entire video at your own risk.)


Then, on January 28, the Los Angeles Times reported, with little fanfare, that Zelaya had gone into exile in the Dominican Republic.

As a new Honduran president took office Wednesday, former leader Manuel Zelaya flew into exile in the Dominican Republic under a deal that ends months of turmoil since his ouster by the military last summer…Zelaya, a wealthy timber man, became a hero to the poor but a pariah to the country’s ultraconservative elite when he shifted to the left once in office. He appears to have little chance of making a political comeback in Honduras.

So, according to the LA Times, the mean “ultraconservatives” ganged up on the “hero to the poor.”

The New York Times kept the pro-Zelaya storyline going in its reporting of his departure from Honduras.

Human rights groups documented serious abuses, including deaths, as security forces cracked down on pro-Zelaya protesters and media outlets in the weeks following the coup.

But even the Times had to admit that:

Business leaders and political foes from Zelaya’s own party accused him of violating the constitution to stay in power, mimicking moves by Venezuela’s leftist President Hugo Chavez.

Oh, but wait, those were just accusations of him violating the Honduran constitution.

Note how this Reuters video on Zelaya’s departure from Honduras and formal reception in the Dominican Republic, as though he is still a head of state, declares that the “political chaos” began with Zelaya’s ouster as President — not with his attempt to usurp his country’s constitution and extend his presidential powers. Wasn’t his fault, according to Reuters:


The Honduran constitutional crisis did not end well for the Obama administration, the U.S. Department of State, or the MSM.  But then, the limited end-game coverage from the MSM leaves many who rely on it as their primary source of news ignorant that the crisis has even ended at all.