Posted on 10/14/2005 4:50:52 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein
October 14, 2005 - 07:10.
In a deliciously ironic twist of fate, shortly before airing a segment aimed at embarrassing the Bush administration by suggesting that it had staged a video conversation between the president and soldiers in Iraq, the Today show was caught in staging . . . a video stunt.
In the Bush/Iraq segment, Today screened footage indicating that prior to engaging in a video conversation with President Bush, soldiers on the ground in Iraq were given tips by a Department of Defense official.
But the only advice that the official was shown as giving was a suggestion to one solider to "take a little breath" before speaking to the president so he would actually be speaking to him. It was also stated that some of the soldiers practiced their comments so as to appear as articulate as possible. But there was no indication, or even allegation, that the soldiers were coached as to the substance of their comments or in any way instructed what to say.
Today's timing couldn't have been worse. A preceding segment focused on the incessant rains and ensuing flooding in the northeast. For days now, beautiful, blonde - and one senses highly ambitious - young reporter Michelle Kosinski has been on the scene for Today in New Jersey, working the story. In an apparent effort to draw attention to herself, in yesterday's segment she turned up in hip waders, standing thigh-deep in the flood waters.
Taking her act one step further, this morning she appeared on a suburban street . . . paddling a canoe. There was one small problem. Just as the segment came on the air, two men waded in front of Kosinki . . . and the water barely covered their shoe tops! That's right, Kosinski's canoe was in no more than 4-6 inches of water!
An embarrassed Kosinski claimed the water was deeper down the street but that her producers didn't want to let her go there for fear she'd drift away. But Katie and Matt, perhaps peeved by her attempted scene-stealing, couldn't resist ribbing her.
Matt: "Are these holy men, perhaps walking on top of the water?"
"Gee, is your oar hitting ground, Michelle?" inquired Katie, as she and Matt dissolved into laughter.
Moral of the story: people in canoes in four inches of water shouldn't throw video-stunt stones.
Finkelstein has degrees from Cornell University and Harvard Law School.He lives in Ithaca, NY where he hosts "Right Angle," a local political talk show. Finkelstein specializes in exposing liberal bias at NBC's Today Show.
LOL - a beautifully-written personal account!
As one of the fired Martha Stewart apprentices said about her TV News job....."You gotta Fake It to Make It"! (Martha fired her).....this girl should be either fired or she should quit.
I think she's just following in the footsteps of the greats, like Dan Rather. She's been taught that the news is show business, to get noticed you have to put yourself in dangerous or controversial situations like the UPI cameraman in NO, or on a canoe in 1 ft of water, or filming a Marine shooting of an "unarmed insurgent."
With today's news culture, to film a heroic military or progress in Iraq, or to say something stupid like "the economy actually looks kinda good," you'll never get a mention. Bash Bush, the war, find a protester who thinks the US blew up the levees, death, destruction, we're-all-gonna-die-and-our-country-is-falling-apart....now you're front and center.
Maybe I'm tired, but I think the blame for this awful MSM falls more on the TV producers and the New York Times (who sets the agenda even though normal people think they're cracked). Journalism professors and journalist students, as naturally biased toward the left as they may be (We're gonna save the World!), are teaching and taught how to make a career for themselves. They'd be stupid to try to feed themselves by writing a good story about a (horrors) conservative or Republican. Or that the water is not as deep as it looks.
So, water girl may get shunted aside, but not for a "staged" report...just for getting caught.
HAHAHAHAHHAHA! It makes me laugh whenever I think about it!! She just should have laughed at HERSELF...but she acted like she didn't even see them!!! PRICELESS!!
AP has now picked up the story, and Drudge is highlighting it in a huge headline at the very top of his site!
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/14/D8D824KO4.html
Something's been bugging me since I wrote that account, and I just figured out what it is. Had to check the screen-cap to make sure.
This was more of a "set-up" than I first realized, but I should have listened to my gut. The first impression was that those two guys were really tall, but it wasn't because they made her look like she was sitting on the floor, even though that was true.
No, they came across the radar as giants because the camera was set up very low to make it look like she was at eye level. On the picture you can see that lense level is between their waist and chest, not anywhere near eye-level.
This was a pure scam from long before they first started setting up the gear.
windows media video
http://newsbusters.org/media/2005-10-14-NBCToday.wmv
Man I can't stop laughing at this video. The first guy looks like Adam Corolla clutching a six-pack of longnecks, and it's what, 7 am or something like that.
Gotta be somebody going out of their way -- literally -- to expose her. How many people are suited up and shuffling through the water at the crack of dawn.
You're the latest Buckhead, baby!
Perhaps you missed this: "But the only advice that the official was shown as giving was a suggestion to one solider to "take a little breath" before speaking to the president so he would actually be speaking to him. It was also stated that some of the soldiers practiced their comments so as to appear as articulate as possible. But there was no indication, or even allegation, that the soldiers were coached as to the substance of their comments or in any way instructed what to say."
Now where in there do you get this: "I do not find another staged propaganda event by the Administration amusing at all."?
Say, you were here last night, weren't you?
Thanks, DC. Does this mean I'm forgiven for disappointing you the other day? ;-)
LOL. As ugly as I am, even I can be improved with a little spackle and a putty knife using a professional sculptor to fill in where needed.
That's why I love our Pubbie-gals. They're as beautiful as a golden sunshiny day . . . but mean enough and cultured enough to "politely" knee us Rednecks in the gonads when we get outta line.
Katie Crap and Mike Lier strike again.
And linking to NPR?
National Public Radio is known for extreme left schillery.
Brit Hume just ran the clip at the end of his program.
Yep, just saw that. Another Freeper suggested here that he do that instead of the Leno takes at the end of his news segment. Guess Britt reads the FR! LOL
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