For the second night in a row, ABC's World News Tonight, in reporting on newly released video showing President Bush receiving warnings that Hurricane Katrina could cause New Orleans levees to fail, did not mention Bush's comment, made days after the storm, that “I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.” On the March 2 broadcast of World News Tonight, ABC News co-anchor Diane Sawyer reported: “Democrats said they [the videos] showed the administration, quote, 'systematically misled the American people.' ” Sawyer did not note, however, that Democrats are making this charge because the videos appear to contradict Bush's specific claim, made two days after Katrina hit, that no one “anticipated the breach of the levees.” Also, ABC News chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos reported that Bush “was peppering [former FEMA director] Mike Brown and others with questions on phone calls all day long,” and claimed: “So, I think this is a case where the videotape doesn't tell the whole story.” Stephanopoulos failed to note that some of the questions Bush “peppered” officials with were reportedly about whether the levees had been breached -- further indication that Bush's claim to not have “anticipated the breach of the levees” is false.

As Media Matters for America noted, the White House now claims that Bush's statement about the levees was accurate, as he was warned only that the levees might be “topped,” rather than “breached.” In fact, Bush himself reportedly asked, the morning Katrina hit, whether the levees had been breached. And, as a report in the January 24 New Orleans Times Picayune indicated, the White House received strong warnings hours before Katrina made landfall of the threat that the levees would be breached.

Sawyer and Stephanopoulos are just the most recent media figures to have ignored Bush's post-Katrina comments on the levees. As Media Matters documented, ABC News anchor Elizabeth Vargas also omitted Bush's comment from her report on the March 1 broadcast of World News Tonight, and MSNBC chief White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell and CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield -- in separate March 2 interviews with White House deputy press secretary Trent Duffy -- did not ask about the contradiction between Bush's statement and what is shown in the videos. The New York Times and The Washington Post also did not mention Bush's comments in their March 2 reports on the videos.

From the March 2 broadcast of ABC's World News Tonight:

SAWYER: And back in Washington, the circle of blame and recrimination on Katrina continued today -- Democrats reacting angrily to those new videos of the Bush administration preparing the day before the storm. Democrats said they showed the administration, quote, “systematically misled the American people,” and they demanded yet another investigation. Well, our chief Washington correspondent, George Stephanopoulos, has spent the day reading the transcripts and looking at those tapes, and he's here now, 'cause George, we want to know: What is the biggest question you think those tapes raise?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, when you look at them, Diane, you see that before the storm hit, the entire government was braced for the worst. And what really pops out is FEMA director Mike Brown's fear that the [News Orleans] Superdome was in big trouble. Take a look.

BROWN [clip]: As you may or may not know, the Superdome is about 12 feet below sea level. So, I don't know what the heck (inaudible) and I also am concerned about that roof. I don't know whether that roof is designed to stand -- withstand a Cat[egory] 5 Hurricane.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Brown warned of a catastrophe within a catastrophe. What's so mystifying is why no one followed up on that warning. And having so many people stuck in the Superdome with no food, water, or way out, was the government's central failure in this response.

SAWYER: That's right. And there, we saw it. We saw the water coming down through the roof, just as he feared. But you know, a lot of people watching these tapes of the preparations saw the president in his video conference -- he was in the Situation Room in Crawford, Texas -- and they said he seemed detached. Is that fair?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, it's odd that the president didn't ask a question in the videotape. But you learn from the transcripts that this was actually the president's second briefing that day, and that he was peppering Mike Brown and others with questions on phone calls all day long. So, I think this is a case where the videotape doesn't tell the whole story.