🧵 1/ WATCH: Journalist Sam Husseini (@samhusseini) tries to question the State Dept about whether Israel has really “committed to” the “ceasefire deal” as the Biden administration claims
Nadia Bilbassy-Charters (@nadia_bilbassy), DC Bureau Chief for Saudi Arabia's Al Arabiya news outlet, helps Miller box Sam out and once again evade answering any questions from him:
2/ Miller was finishing his answer to another journalist's question (Said Arikat) when Sam followed up to ask for clarification.
@nadia_bilbassy is part of a small group of "approved" journalists who Miller almost always gives multiple questions to.
3/ Sam is frequently denied the chance to ask even a single question, as @nadia_bilbassy undoubtedly knows from being in the room dozens of times when it's happened.
One of the many examples:
4/ Another example:
5/ Yet another:
6/ Miller once again didn't call on Sam during the entire press conference yesterday, before or after the exchange seen at the beginning of this thread.
Nadia (@nadia_bilbassy), meanwhile, was given three questions in a row after she helped Miller evade Sam's question.
7/ Try searching for an example of @nadia_bilbassy ever standing up for Sam or any of the other journalists Miller loves to ignore while showering her with questions.
It's possible that there are very rare examples, but there may be zero.
8/ Also, FWIW: One day earlier (Tuesday), Miller was boasting about how this “ceasefire deal” has “broad support” throughout the world, including “countries in the Global South.”
When pressed by Matt Lee, Saudi Arabia was the only “Global South” country he could name to back that up.
(@nadia_bilbassy works for Saudi state-owned media)
state.gov/briefings/depa…
@nadia_bilbassy @samhusseini @MaxBlumenthal @TLAVagabond 9/ Bilbassy-Charters, for her part, says that she has “never got a guideline” from the Saudi outlet she works for.
(Like the info in the tweet above, this is just another data point; take from it what you will.)
deadline.com/2024/06/al-ara…
10/ “Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for giving us this exclusive interview. We appreciate your time...”
@nadia_bilbassy interviews Blinken in 2023.
Do you think he'd ever give this kind of access to @samhusseini, @MaxBlumenthal, @cosgrove_iv, etc?
tn.usembassy.gov/secretary-anto…
@nadia_bilbassy @samhusseini @MaxBlumenthal @cosgrove_iv 11/ Nadia Bilbassy-Charters (@nadia_bilbassy) meets with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office (Dec 2008)
Source / longer version:
@nadia_bilbassy @samhusseini @MaxBlumenthal @cosgrove_iv 12/ None of this is to say that @nadia_bilbassy never asks any good (or at least decent) questions. Here's a notable exchange highlighted by @decensorednews previously, for example:
13/ However, it's pretty incredible for her to paint herself as a “lone voice” for Palestine when she's a willing participant in a very obviously “rigged” press room where some of the reporters who are most capable of—and most willing to—hold the administration's feet to the fire are frequently prevented from doing so (with her complicity).
deadline.com/2024/06/al-ara…
@nadia_bilbassy @samhusseini @MaxBlumenthal @cosgrove_iv 14/ There's a reason she's given this level of access, and — sorry — it's not because she's the best reporter in DC (let alone the country) when it comes to “hold[ing] officials accountable” and nailing them on their “double standards” and false narratives.
@nadia_bilbassy @samhusseini @MaxBlumenthal @cosgrove_iv 15/ More biographical info on Bilbassy-Charters, who apparently grew up in Gaza before going to work for the MSM (AFP, BBC, & The Independent) and then “moving to the U.S. to cover politics for Al Arabiya” in/around 2003.
deadline.com/2024/06/al-ara…
@nadia_bilbassy @samhusseini @MaxBlumenthal @cosgrove_iv 16/ Response to @nadia_bilbassy:
@nadia_bilbassy @samhusseini @MaxBlumenthal @cosgrove_iv 17/
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