On the August 16 edition of ABC's World News, anchor Charles Gibson reported that “Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen from Chicago, was convicted today of supporting terrorism,” without noting the controversial history surrounding Padilla's detention. Gibson reported that Padilla's case “symbolized the Bush administration's attempt to prevent homegrown terror,” and that Padilla “was originally accused of plotting with Al Qaeda to detonate a radioactive dirty bomb, but that charge was dropped.” Gibson then reported that "[a]fter a three-month trial in Miami," Padilla was found "[g]uilty of conspiracy to kidnap, murder, and maim people overseas and of material support for terrorism" and “could get life in prison.” But contrary to Gibson's claim, Padilla was never “charge[d]” in relation to the alleged “dirty bomb” plot. Instead, as NBC legal correspondent Pete Williams reported during the same night's edition of NBC's Nightly News, President Bush originally “declared” Padilla, a U.S. citizen, “an enemy combatant” and held him “in a Navy brig for more than three years” without charges. It was only after Padilla appealed to the Supreme Court, claiming that he was being unconstitutionally detained, that he was criminally indicted. Gibson made no mention of Padilla's controversial detention in his report.

Gibson spent approximately 30 seconds reporting on the Padilla verdict. By contrast, Gibson devoted approximately 90 seconds on the same program to covering the “announcement” that “Jenna Bush, one of the president's twin daughters, is to marry.”

As Media Matters for America has noted, Padilla was arrested in Chicago in May 2002 on a material witness warrant; the administration claimed he had been plotting to set off a “dirty bomb” in the United States. Bush designated him an “enemy combatant” in June 2002, and he was held without charges. As a June 27, 2002, CNN.com article reported, Padilla's court-appointed attorney highlighted the fact that Padilla had not been formally charged while contesting his detention. From CNN.com:

Padilla's court-appointed defense attorney, Donna Newman, called for Padilla's release in a document known as a petition for habeas corpus. In her petition, Newman noted that Padilla has not been formally charged with any criminal activity.

“There is insufficient evidence for the government to obtain an indictment,” she wrote.

“Among the rights which the government has violated are: his right to due process, his right to be free from unreasonable seizure, his right to counsel and his right to a grand jury,” she continued.

In February 2005, a federal district judge in South Carolina ruled that Padilla could not be indefinitely detained and ordered the United States to either charge or release him. After the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court in September 2005, Padilla appealed to the Supreme Court. Just before the Supreme Court was to decide whether to hear the case, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced at a November 22, 2005, press conference that a federal grand jury in Florida had indicted Padilla on terrorism-related charges unconnected to the original allegations of a “dirty bomb” plot. In response, Padilla's legal team accused the Bush administration of “clearly trying to evade Supreme Court review.”

On August 16, Padilla was found guilty of the lesser charges, including conspiracy to murder, kidnap, and maim overseas and conspiracy to provide material support for terrorists.

Yet in his report, Gibson misstated Padilla's legal status and did not report on the circumstances behind Padilla's detention or the legal battle sparked by his case. By contrast, reports on both NBC's Nightly News and the CBS Evening News made note of what NBC's Williams described as Padilla's “unusual” case. Williams reported: “He was one of the first Americans since 9-11 to be arrested in the U.S. and to be declared an enemy combatant. He was held in a Navy brig for more than three years. And then just before the Supreme Court was to consider his detention, the government brought these charges that led to today's verdict, and now Jose Padilla could face life in prison.”

Similarly, on the CBS Evening News, correspondent Bob Orr noted that Padilla “was locked up in a military prison and labeled an enemy combatant for three and a half years.” Orr further reported: “To avoid a showdown in the Supreme Court, the government eventually moved Padilla into the criminal system, and now he has been convicted of conspiring to support terrorists, charges far less serious than the dirty-bomb allegations first leveled by the Bush administration.”

From the August 16 edition of ABC's World News with Charles Gibson:

GIBSON: A case that symbolized the Bush administration's attempt to prevent homegrown terror ended today. Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen from Chicago, was convicted of supporting terrorism. Padilla, you may recall, was originally accused of plotting with Al Qaeda to detonate a radioactive dirty bomb, but that charge was dropped. After a three-month trial in Miami, today's verdict was guilty: guilty of conspiracy to kidnap, murder, and maim people overseas and of material support for terrorism. Padilla could get life in prison.

[...]

GIBSON: Finally tonight, an announcement from the White House. Jenna Bush, one of the president's twin daughters, is to marry. She became engaged yesterday. The young man's name? Henry Hager.

[begin video clip]

GIBSON: We have some pictures of the happy couple. This one, at a White House dinner for the Prince of Whales, is the kind that makes parents happy. This one, a picture that makes parents not so happy: Mr. Hager is 29, four years older than his fiancée. He interned for Karl Rove and worked for the Bush re-election team. His father is a former Virginia lieutenant governor -- Republican, of course. If Jenna's is a White House wedding, it would be the 18th. The last was Trisha Nixon in 1971.

In all, eight presidents gave their daughters away at the White House, only one presidential son, though -- John Quincy Adams' boy. And only one president himself ever got hitched at the White House; that was Grover Cleveland, 1886.

Henry Hager has been Jenna Bush's boyfriend for some time. There were rumors in the past they might marry. Somewhat impolitely, I asked Laura Bush on Good Morning America about the young man, a couple of years ago.

BUSH: This is not a serious boyfriend. I hate to have to be the one to say it on television, but he's a very nice young man.

GIBSON: Parents sometimes are the last to know.

[end video clip]

GIBSON: [chuckles] And that is World News for this Thursday.

From the August 16 edition of NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams:

BRIAN WILLIAMS (anchor): There is a verdict this evening in one of the most closely watched terrorism cases of our post-9-11 era, and the verdict is guilty for Jose Padilla, an American citizen once accused of plotting to set off a radioactive, or so-called “dirty,” bomb. His conviction today is on less serious charges. Our Justice correspondent Pete Williams is with us from Washington tonight for more on what all of this means -- Pete, good evening.

PETE WILLIAMS: Brian, this is a big legal victory for the Bush administration, but not on the basis that led to Jose Padilla's arrest five years ago. That's when he was accused of coming to the U.S. to set off a dirty bomb, and then the government later said he was plotting to blow up apartment buildings in New York. But today, a jury found him and two other South Florida men guilty of something much less serious: providing support for violent holy war in several countries overseas. Among the key evidence was an application that prosecutors said Padilla filled out to attend an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan.

But it wasn't just the spectacular allegations against Padilla that made his case so unusual. He was the first American citizen since 9-11 to be arrested in the U.S. and declared an enemy combatant. He was held in a Navy brig for more than three years, and then just before the Supreme Court was to consider his detention, the government brought these charges that led to today's verdict, and now Jose Padilla could face a sentence of life in prison, Brian.

BRIAN WILLIAMS: All right -- Pete Williams with the Padilla case out of Washington for us tonight. Thanks.

From the August 16 edition of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric:

KATIE COURIC (anchor): To the war on terror now: A federal jury in Miami convicted 36-year-old Jose Padilla today, five years after he first made headlines as the so-called “dirty bomb” suspect. Padilla and two others were found guilty of supporting terrorists overseas. And when all was said and done, two words the jury never heard: dirty bomb. Here's our Justice correspondent, Bob Orr.

[begin video clip]

ORR: When the FBI grabbed Jose Padilla at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft interrupted a trip to Russia to break the news.

ASHCROFT: We have disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot to attack the United States.

ORR: Padilla, a U.S. citizen, was portrayed as an Al Qaeda terrorist planning to attack an American city with radiation-laced explosives. He was locked up in a military prison and labeled an enemy combatant for three and a half years.

To avoid a showdown in the Supreme Court, the government eventually moved Padilla into the criminal system, and now he's been convicted of conspiring to support terrorists, charges far less serious than the dirty-bomb allegations first leveled by the Bush administration.

It took a Miami jury just a day and a half to convict Padilla and two others of being part of a South Florida terror cell. Wiretapped phone calls, the government charged, revealed Padilla and colleagues mapped plans for jihad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever Allah [inaudible] has open for us. I'm still ready, are you?

ORR: And prosecutors used this document, bearing Padilla's signature and fingerprints, to claim that he'd traveled to an Al Qaeda training camp before 9-11.

The defense contended Padilla and the others were merely interested in helping fellow Muslims suffering in war zones, but the jury rejected that argument. Now Padilla faces possible life in prison.

Bob Orr, CBS News, Washington.