Press lied about Dad of fallen soldier Iraq comments? (Vanity)

April 22, 2004 | me

[BillF]

A friend told me a very sad story about a local TV station lying about comments of a father whose son just died in Iraq in the last couple weeks. My friend is going to talk to the friend about possibly going public.

I recall that there was a similar incident in the last few weeks and I'm looking for the story or links to it on FR.

As I remember, a step-father (hereafter "father") of a fallen soldier or Marine was approached by a local TV reporter (I think it was Houston, TX).

Reporter asked the father if he was concerned that his son died in a war that was justified by WMDs and there were no WMDs. Father says something like "I don't want to talk about the politics here."

Local news runs part of interview without the WMD question and answer with anchor adding, "He says that he is especially upset because war was justified by Iraq WMDs and none exist."

Father complains loudly and gets apology from station. I think the father was on Fox, possibly O'Reilly.

Anyone remember this and can direct me to the story or FR link?

[BillF]

If I can find the story of the earlier news distortion, it may help persuade this other father (who has a similar story of press bias) to go public.

[BillF]

Any of you Texas FReepers have knowledge about this story?

[MeekOneGOP]

This seems vaguely familiar. Would you like me to hit my Texas ping list to see if folks can help ?

The media is SHAMELESS !

[BillF]

Anyone remember this story or know a FReeper who has a media bias ping list?

[BillF]

Thank you for your kind offer. Yes, it would be nice if you could ping Texas.

Know of anyone with a media bias ping list?

[LisaFab]

Can you help out here?

[MeekOneGOP]

I'll ping it, sure !

I'm trying to remember. Somebody used to do a weekly Media Bias thread/story of the week and I can't recall who it was that posted and pinged that.

If I can recall who it was, I'll ping them here as well.

[MeekOneGOP]

Press lied about Dad of fallen soldier Iraq comments?

Heads up, folks ! Please help if you can. Freeper is looking for info
to help put fire on the media for their bias and un-American ways.

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas ping list!. . .don't be shy.
No, you don't HAVE to be a Texan to get on this list!

[Diddle E. Squat]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1118666/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1118680/posts

[Diddle E. Squat]

Also try and find the am700 ksev website. They are the radio station that outed this outrage.

[MeekOneGOP]

I also posted a note on the Texas discussion board.

MeekOneGOP 04/22/2004 4:18:44 PM CDT

[Diddle E. Squat]

Here's the KSEV website:

http://www.ksevradio.com/

You really should also send a private email to Dan Patrick at KSEV, he is the head honcho there, and good at organizing grass root efforts and getting things done.

patrick@ksevradio.com

Also contact Edd Hendee as backup:

edd@ksevradio.com

[MeekOneGOP]

Also try and find the am700 ksev website. They are the radio station that outed this outrage.

Here it is ...

http://www.ksevradio.com/.

[Dog Gone]

O'Reilly was going to have a segment on this story involving the Houston Chronicle on his show, but Bush's prime time press conference pre-empted it.

Radio station KSEV won't let the matter drop, and the Chronicle has suffered significant cancellations because of it.

[MeekOneGOP]

Way to go !

[BillF]

Thank you for the kind help!

[BillF]

I thought I saw the O'Reilly segment (East Coast), but I was on FR at the time and paying more attention to FR.

Maybe I just saw a promo for it? Or maybe O'Reilly slid the story from one night to a different night?

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks ! I hope it did help. ;^)

[BillF]

You really should also send a private email to Dan Patrick at KSEV, he is the head honcho there, and good at organizing grass root efforts and getting things done.

My friend's friend (the father of the fallen soldier or Marine) does not live in Texas. It was a local TV station in another state that perpetrated the outrage.

I don't want to give details because the friend's friend may decide not to go public. I will say that the misreporting by the local TV station was worse than the Houston Chronicle outrage.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Understood, but if your friend does decide to go public, then contacting Dan Patrick might be wise. He may well be compiling a list of similar incidences, and if there is a pattern of this dishonesty, it should be outed. If anyone is going to be a central clearing house for such media dishonesty regarding war vets, it would be Dan or Brent Bozell at the Media Research Center. And having worked with the Texas family, Dan might have some insights into how to address some of your friend's concerns/fears, or perhaps even put him in touch with the original family(though that could take place without an intermediary, the family is named in the articles and should be easy to locate in the phone book, perhaps online.)

Something to consider.