Posted on 01/05/2005 3:23:13 PM PST by Mike Fieschko
To those of you who saw Ocean Rover in the CBS News report about coral damage: do not believe what they are telling you! We are furious at CBS. One of their producers contacted us and asked if we could help them get to the Similan Islands to report on coral damage. They assured us the piece would be "fair & balanced."We did everything we could to assist the CBS news team and they spend half a day filming and interviewing people on board Ocean Rover. One of our clients kindly gave them his underwater video footage for use during the broadcast. CBS promised our client that his footage would be used in a responsible manner.
Our Cruise Director Hans Tibboel described one specific divesite in Surin Island with the words: "it looked like a giant sandblaster was used". Again, Hans was describing only one divesite and made positive remarks about the actual lack of damage at other places. Of course, the CBS editor used the "sandblast" soundbite and hardly anything else.
Footage was also arranged in a "before & after" method that is not consistent with the real situation. All the beautiful "before" footage shown by CBS was actually filmed AFTER the tsunami.
Somehow the media just cannot help themselves and turn everything into a gloom & doom story. CBS should be ashamed of what they did here. We have talked to their producer since but of course she blames the New York editor. This is the way the media works. The way the news piece came out is 100% the opposite of what was promised to us. We urge fellow dive operators to be very careful in dealing with the media. These people do not let scruples get in the way of a juicy story. Shameful!
The CBS piece is damaging to our reputation and business. It paints the wrong picture about the true level of coral damage in the Similans AND it makes our own website reports look like lies. All we can say is when you dive with us, you trust us with your lives. When you read our website, you can trust us to be truthful.
someone needs to forward this to the superheroes at powerlineblog.com
Bump for later reading.
I did, and I am now glad I know the truth.
And I'm not even a diver.
They say beauty is only skin deep but that ugly (and stupidity) goes all the way.
I say sic 'em!
The footage may be fake, but the story is true. CBS looks forward to breaking this news first.
You just can't fix stupid.
When you see the eye, expect the lie.
Why would ANYONE trust ANYTHING that they see on CBS?
Perhaps it's time to stop giving interview to CBS. Being careful doesn't cut it. CBS will spin it their way. Every time.
And the problem is, even if the correspondent is a good one and fair, typically they don't have full control over how their report is edited (I think at the network level they don't even edit it.....a producer does that). Editors and producers may end up screwing it up.
Correspondents have less control over their pieces at network than city markets in any event.
Dick Thornberg will look into this, and the results of the investigation will be made public within weeks, not months.
I learned 30 years ago when Dan Rather lied his way into my father's factory that trying to help CBS with any story by allowing them to film on your property is asking for disaster. Only the truth ends up on the cutting room floor at CBS.
I saw a picure of Dan Rather on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln the other day. Whoever in the Nazy authorized that SoB to be on a US Navy vessel should be keel-hauled.
And you saw this on Fox News, right?
THIS STORY needs to get out IMMEDIATLY.
The CBS self report says the jury is still out on whether or not the Rather documents are forgeries.
Headlines should be SCREAMING CBS CAUGHT RED HANDED FORGING MORE STORIES AGAIN! Is it any wonder Dan Rather is there...
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