Posted on 02/01/2002 2:59:31 PM PST by spycatcher
Tony Snow asked the roundtable about it -- then had to call the wolves off because he didn't want it to end up with everyone "bashing CNN" for their bogus reporting.
They were amazed that CNN would go with what was just some hoax email when the stakes were so high, and except that Mort figured CNN was getting desperate to make some news.
I compare it to someone from the Howard Stern show calling CNN with a Pakistani accent and CNN going live with the report of whatever they said. Obvious it makes for "sexy" breaking news in CNN's eyes.
I don't mean to be picky but CNN has been doing this for a long time and has been called on it before.
Boy, do I remember that, and I was only 11! Frank Reynolds had a total meltdown, pounding the anchor desk with his fists and screaming at everyone behind him to "GET THE #@%@# FACTS STRAIGHT!" or somesuch. It was actually one of the more honest moments in the history of TV journalism, if you ask me.
But as far as I'm concerned, CNN totally blew past that mistake with their 9/11 coverage. How many times did they screw up between 9 am and noon that day? First it was just a prop plane accident. Then they kept reporting over and over that "faulty guidance systems are leading these aircraft into the buildings." Then the State Department was being bombed. Then an explosion at the Capitol. And several other things I'm forgetting about at the moment. Basically, on 9/11, if anyone employed by CNN heard anyone on earth repeat any rumor whatsoever, it ended up on air, repeated over and over until it was disproven. I think all in all, what they did was far worse than ABC's Jim Brady screwup in '81.
I hope FNC castrates CNN.
CNN just decided to take a chance and reported it anyhow as news. It doesn't matter a whit if they were just "reporting they recieved an email" because anyone can fake an email or make a crank phone call. It was completely unprofessional for them to *assume* this was legit and make it breaking news.
Try emailing CNN that you shot some famous actor or found their body dumped and see if they make it breaking news that "we've recieved a report that so and so is now dead." And if there was already a tense hostage situation with said actor they would be even less likely to run with it. Whoever made the decision this time should be fired.
Calypso Louie finally got something right.
If these mongrels do kill this reporter, you can bet W will get payback when they least expect it.
Klinton and his freakish SOS Albright no longer foul the White House with the putrid stench of appeasement.
The other emails could just as easily been faked. Regardless, the premise of this thread is that CNN stated ... STATED that Danny Pearl was dead. That is not true. They did not say Pearl was dead. A little reading comprehension goes a long way.
"The e-mail message is unlike previous ones sent by those claiming to hold Pearl, U.S. officials said, suggesting it may have come from a different source. The message sent Friday, for example, did not include photographs, had better spelling and differed in other ways than previous e-mails, according to officials."
Note that they're pretending now that they never saw the suspicious email themselves before they went with the story! Whoever originally decided this was breaking news was an utter fool. (It seems they've unpublished the original embarrassing article)
If you don't get rid of that dyslexia, you are going to be in college a very long time.
However, after a commercial break, a stunned Goodnow slowly intoned that 'we have learned that President George Bush...' and then a voice from off camera screamed, "NO! WAIT!" Goodnow turned his head, quickly turned back to the camera, and went on to the next scheduled item.
It was later disclosed that someone had phoned in a "confirmation" that Bush had died in the hospital. Goodnow was one second from infamy at that moment, and someone saved him.
I'm surprised some democrat didn't email or call CNN after G.W. fainted last week saying that he's choked to death and that the bad news gave Dick Cheney a heart attack, killing him also!
Don't forget, if the original report was so innocent, it would still be on CNN's site. But they replaced it, and quickly flushed the goof down the memory hole. There's really no debate that they screwed up since they're now admitting the email never should have been taken seriously and it looked like a complete hoax from the start.
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