MSNBC misrepresents plea from mother of soldier KIA

MSNBC | March 24, 2003

[hotpotato]

Last Saturday, the mother of one of the first soldiers killed in action was on the phone to Tom Brokaw on NBC and gave a heart-wrenching perspective on being a parent observing the war that is running 24/7 on TV. Tom Brokaw became all choked up as did the four retired military consultants with him. Just as Brockaw was saying good buy to her, she asked if she may say one thing and he said yes. She then pleaded with the media to remember that there are mothers and fathers and wives watching this coverage and it is murder, referring to the impact on family members viewing the coverage and her description of how it felt to watch the coverage searching the face of each soldier wondering "is that my son?" She was asking that those covering this war please remember there are family members that are watching this coverage.

Just now, I heard the transition from one hour to the next on MSNBC (one-minute slide show and sounds of the past five days). MSNBC has edited that poor mother's plea as though her words "it's murder" is describing the war rather than the media's coverage which is without a doubt what she was expressing. I consider this an outrageous abuse of that poor mother's grief and expression of her fears and concerns about the media coverage and an example of the media's callous indifference to that poor mother's pain. Shame on MSNBC! I don't know if this was done deliberately but it should be corrected immediately.

[The PeteMan]

typical liberal media plow of cut and paste .. Just as Michael Moore-on does in his crap films.

[The PeteMan]

whoops..PLOW=PLOY

[try phecta tom]

good catch, screw these bastards. Let's see, last three days, who have we learned edits tape for a deceitful advantage? NBC, Michael Moore, Saddam. SEE A PATTERN?

[Klein-Bottle]

Is this a law suit?

[FlashBack]

Another reason to tune into FOX News Channel!!!!

[hotpotato]

I've tried to find contact info for MSNBC. They have an email address for "Countdown Iraq" but nothing for "Iraq War Coverage"

Nightly News with Tom Brokaw is Nightly@nbc.com
Countdown: Iraq is countdown@msnbc.com
Opinions can be sent to letters@msnbc.com

If anyone has an email address for the current running "War on Iraq" would you post it here?

[hotpotato]

I don't know. They edited her message and the media does that all the time. I suspect she never intended her words to be used this way. I'm in the process of expressing my outrage to NBC/MSNBC now. :-/ I'm assuming they run this every hour on the hour as there was no change in time schedule noted on the cable schedule. It runs as a nice series of war photos with background sounds. Was a shock to hear them insert her words edited in that manner.

[alameda]

Your right! I also watched this segment that you speak of. It was a very moving piece. The mother having just lost her son, amazed me by her dignified attempt to characterize media coverage as just to painfull for mothers with children in harms way. She was refering to modern coverage being murderous..clearly.
We should have known it would be spun some other way...

[hotpotato]

I just listened for it again during the latest one-hour transition. They used video and a slide show of war photos but this time, they removed the dialogue.

I don't know if it's because of objections from others or MSNBC will be changing it every hour or maybe they realized how seriously they misrepresented her meaning.

Her words were truly heart breaking. Such an eloquent testimony of a mother who has lost her son to war. Wish I had taped the entire conversation.

[truthkeeper]

If it is as you say, it would be a dreadful distortion of her interview. Here's a BTTT for your efforts.

[hotpotato]

Thanks.

I just noticed I typed good buy instead of goodbye. Does anyone know if a posting can be edited?

[hotpotato]

I recorded the edited quote from the grieving mother when it was replayed at 10 pm PST. It is as follows with sections where they have been spliced together noted:

"To the mothers and wives it is murder" (splice) "it's heartbreak" (splice) "there are moms, there are dads, there are wives out there that are suffering because of this."

MSNBC has edited out her reference to the media. The dialogue comes on top of photos of soldiers killed in action (including the soldier whose father was distraught and upset with Bush).