ABC Grills Ryan On Childhood Photos, Ignores False Speech Claims

This evening, each of the three broadcast networks aired interviews they did today with vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan. Given the widespread criticism of Ryan's speech to the Republican national convention last night, you would expect the networks to use the opportunity to press Ryan on his many false and misleading attacks on President Obama identified by multiple fact-checking sites and news outlets. NBC and CBS did just that. ABC's Diane Sawyer, however, didn't ask about the speech at all, opting instead to quiz Ryan about childhood photos of himself, get his thoughts on the convention's national debt clock, and discuss his dislike of raisins.

Here's Sawyer's interview with Ryan. She did ask Ryan whether the campaign would offer more specifics on Romney's tax proposal, but the question was sandwiched between several layers of fluff.

By way of contrast, here's the portion of CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley's interview that aired tonight. In it, Pelley pressed Ryan on his claim last night that President Obama was responsible for the downgrading of the U.S. credit rating, noting that Standard & Poor's, the agency that issued the downgrade, laid blame at the feet of Congressional Republicans.