Here is NBC's response.
Chirp.......chirp.............
Posted on 05/19/2008 1:11:05 PM PDT by WesA
The White House on Monday sent a scathing letter to NBC News, accusing the news network of “deceptively” editing an interview with President Bush on the issue of appeasement and Iran.
At issue were remarks Bush made in front of Israel's parliament earlier this week.
Specifically, White House counselor Ed Gillespie laments that the network edited the interview in a way that “is clearly intended to give viewers the impression that [Bush] agreed with [correspondent Richard Engel's] characterization of his remarks when he explicitly challenged it.
“This deceitful editing to further a media-manufactured storyline is utterly misleading and irresponsible and I hereby request in the interest of fairness and accuracy that the network air the President’s responses to both initial questions in full on the two programs that used the excerpts,” said Gillespie in the letter to NBC News President Steve Capus.
Gillespie used the opportunity to also inquire whether NBC News still believes that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war. In November 2006, the network decided to label the infighting in the country a “civil war.”
“I noticed that around September of 2007, your network quietly stopped referring to conditions in Iraq as a ‘civil war,’ ” Gillespie wrote. “Is it still NBC News’s carefully deliberated opinion that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war? If not, will the network publicly declare that the civil war has ended, or that it was wrong to declare it in the first place?”
Gillespie also hit NBC News on its reporting on the state of the economy.
“I’m sure you don’t want people to conclude that there is really no distinction between the ‘news’ as reported on NBC and the ‘opinion’ as reported on MSNBC, despite the increasing blurring of those lines,” Gillespie concluded. “I welcome your response to this letter, and hope it is one that reassures your broadcast network’s viewers that blatantly partisan talk show hosts like Christopher Matthews and Keith Olbermann at MSNBC don’t hold editorial sway over the NBC network news division.”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/05/20080519-4.html
About time the White House stands up to the press. What do they have to lose—the press hates them anyway.
7 years too late. Hopefully the next Republican president will not wait this long to fight the LameStream Media.
It's about time! (and sorry for the edit .. it had to be done)
Thank YOU!
Really.
Well YOU can kiss MY grits.
Yah, like NBC.
Leni
Says it all.
NBC countered by saying the unedited interview has been available since Sunday on the network’s Web site, and that the reporting accurately reflects the interview.
“Just as the White House does not participate in the editorial process at the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal or USA Today, NBC News, as part of a free press in a free society, makes its own editorial decisions,” NBC said in a statement.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080519/D90OVMRO1.html
When Hillary gets ticked off at NBC THEY CALL HER to smooth things over but NBC releases a snarky statement when it’s President Bush!
February 9, 2008
HILLARY WANTS SHUSTER FIRED
LEWISTON, Me. — Hillary Clinton isn’t pulling her punches today, and she’s ripped.
Clinton doesn’t think a temporary suspension fits the crime by MSNBC’s David Shuster, who commented this week that the Clinton campaign had “pimped out” 27-year old Chelsea Clinton by having her try to recruit Democratic Party super delegates to support her mother.
Sen. Clinton’s letter to Steve Capus, president of NBC News, pretty much says it all:
Dear Mr. Capus,
Thank you for your call yesterday. I wanted to send you this note to convey the depth of my feeling about David Shuster’s comments.
I know that I am a public figure and that my daughter is playing a public role in my campaign. I am accustomed to criticism, certainly from MSNBC. I know that it goes with the territory.
However, I became Chelsea’s mother long before I ran for any office and I will always be a mom first and a public official second.
Nothing justifies the kind of debasing language that David Shuster used and no temporary suspension or half-hearted apology is sufficient.
I would urge you to look at the pattern of behavior on your network that seems to repeatedly lead to this sort of degrading language.
There’s a lot at stake for our country in this election. Surely, you can do your jobs as journalists and commentators and still keep the discourse civil and appropriate.
Sincerely,
Hillary Rodham Clinton
His (Steve Capus) wife is Dateline NBC special segment producer Sophia Faskianos.
the network edited the interview in a way that "is clearly intended to give viewers the impression that [Bush] agreed with [correspondent Richard Engel's] characterization of his remarks when he explicitly challenged it. This deceitful editing to further a media-manufactured storyline is utterly misleading and irresponsible and I hereby request in the interest of fairness and accuracy that the network air the President’s responses to both initial questions in full on the two programs that used the excerpts," said Gillespie in the letter to NBC News President Steve Capus.
What really happened here was NBC taking a swipe at President Bush, not the other way around.
bookmark 4 later
Here is NBC's response.
Chirp.......chirp.............
Thanks!
Please, Barry (Au, not BHO), keep on channeling!!! It’s starting to work. Woo Hoo. Ronnie, jump in there too. We need you both more than ever.
Journalists nowadays think that a “free press” and the “First Amendment” means they can publish ANYTHING they want - whether true or not! I ran into this over 7 years ago in Denver with the Rocky Mountain News. Deliberate lies in their voting guide, and while two of us were handing out flyers about the planned protest, there a few “kids” (interns?), who worked for the RMN that came up to us and asked us what we were doing. I gave them both a flyer and explained that their paper had printed more than one total fabrication in their voting guide, and their response: Don’t you know about the First Amendment? We can print WHATEVER we want to print” “I replied, yes, with the exception of LIES. The media is supposed to provide the public with the TRUTH, not just YOUR version of it!” They just looked at each other, laughed and walked back into the building...
I truly think that in today’s journalism schools they are taught something completely different than what I was taught in the classes I took. We were taught to cover both sides of a story. That it wasn’t up to us to decide who was right or wrong, that was the reader’s job. We were just supposed to present both sides in the most unbiased way possible, whenever possible. And, barring that to include as many details as possible so again, the reader could decide for himself which “side” to believe, or not believe. We were specifically told that our opinions do NOT matter AT ALL. That was saved for editorial pages, not the NEWS section. Nowadays, it seems like EVERYTHING is an editorial. I can’t remember the last time I’ve read a truly unbiased article, and TV news and the MSM is even worse!
UGH... So frustrating.
I’m glad to see Bush is finally taking a swing back. I’ve been hoping for this for quite a while now. If only he would take a few swings at the Democrats, and all the other MSM outlets - it’s not like ANY of them deserve a “pass”. Maybe he could actually inspire McCain to not be such a pushover which would translate into more votes - then again, maybe McCain agrees with most of what is published in the MSM?
Ah.. now I’m rambling and straying off-topic... Sorry about that! :)
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