Posted on 10/24/2008 11:23:24 AM PDT by kddid
Stop the presses — CNN is taking responsibility for falsely stating that National Review magazine called Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin “incompetent, stupid, unqualified, corrupt or all of the above.”
“I think ideology has now overridden any kind of journalistic ethics at all,” Fox News host Bill O’Reilly told his audience when he learned of the distortion. “And I think that’s the bottom line here.”
An interview with Palin that aired Tuesday on CNN’s The Situation Room touched off the controversy. CNN correspondent Drew Griffin twisted the meaning of a National Review column during a question he posed to Palin about whether her message is reaching the public.
Griffin’s question: “Governor you’ve been mocked in the press. The press had been pretty hard on you, Democrats have been pretty hard on you, but also some conservatives have been pretty hard on you. The National Review had a story saying, ‘I can’t tell if Sarah Palin is incompetent, stupid, unqualified, corrupt or all of the above.’”
Palin immediately asked, “Who wrote that?”
Griffin stammered, “T-that was in The National Review. I don’t know who wrote that.”
“Who wrote it?” Palin replied, obviously concerned. “I’d like to talk to that person.”
On Thursday, Griffin appeared on two CNN programs, "Newsroom" and "Situation Room," to confess the error.
Said Griffin, “I never really explained the point of the National Review before she finished answering the question. “In no way did I intend to misquote The National Review.”
Griffin also said, “Unfortunately, my question — I botched it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Yes, and the MSM will howl in outrage when they are accused of being biased.
They love to portray themselves as objective reporters of facts.
Sarah just needs to take off her microphone and leave when they try this crap. When she knows someone is misquoting something (or if she even suspects it), she should say “I’m tired of this. I have had to put up with misquotes from Charlie Gibson, Katie Couric and now CNN. You guys can play these games if you want, but I’m outta here.”
He didn’t have a choice. It’s all you can do when your caught that badly in a lie.
Not a mistake by the POS’s at CNN. They ran the clip on CNN International non-stop for two days.
Yep, quite a few ST and Some Band fans here on FR.
Took a class, big fun
Modern Ethics 101
First day learned why
Ethics really don’t apply
Prof says “one trait
Takes us to a higher state
Drug free, pure bliss
Get your pencils, copy this...”
Life unwinds like a cheap sweater
Since I gave up hope, I feel a lot better
And the truth gets blurred like a wet letter
But since I gave up hope, I feel a lot better
Write it down......
He didn't misquote National Review, he lifted a statement out of context, and I am suspicious of his explanation. He first states that some conservatives have been hard on Gov. Palin, immediately following it up with the line in question, as though it verified his point. In fact, that statement was about press coverage; in the NR article York later brings up criticism from conservatives.
I think Griffin cherry-picked York's article and didn't pay attention to what York was really saying.
It implies in the pocket of the National Socialists.
That is the America they desire, much like Pravda.
No, he knew darn well whom he was quoting. But if he had sai, “Byron York” then he would have been guilty of putting words into York’s mouth, since the quoted words were written by York as a summary of what the media was saying. Griffin knew that he did not dare attribute the prima facie meaning to York because he knew that York did not agree with what Griffin had just quoted. So he stammered. He couldn’t say, “that’s what other people are quoted as saying about you” because then his gotcha trap would be ruined.
I’m sorry, I don’t care what good he might have done reporting on Obama-Ayers or Obama-Acorn. What he did was filthy evil. And he has not apologized. He deserves things I cannot put in words here. This man is beneath contempt.
First of all, it's clear in the original line of questioning that the interviewer is a typical dumbass telejournalist who did no homework and was passed an out-of-context quote by an equally lazy producer who didn't bother to actually read the column. He didn't intend to misquote NR because he had no idea what the article said. It could've said, "Adama says you're a Cylon," and that's what this idiot would have read from his notes on camera.
Second, his apology is as lazy and transparent as his original ambush. Palin did not plow through any attempt to clarify or frame the remark: she did not believe anybody at National Review would write such a thing, and she was right, and Palin gave him the opportunity to retract the quote. At that point he could easily have said, "wait, wait, that's not the full quote." Instead he said, in effect, I don't know who said it but it's genuine.
Third, this isn't an apology, but it's as close to one as we're going to get. At least CNN has admitted something went wrong. Imagine the same spectacle if this little drama had played out on MSNBC: "We knew the quote was taken completely out of context in a way that turned its meaning 180 degress out, and we wanted to see if Palin would catch it. She didn't. What a moron."
Then a runner to that effect would be running for the next several days.
CNN should get an Emmy for Least Stupid Liberal Network.
It is usually used as a buzz word for patriotism one disagrees with however.
A patriot: A nationalist whose nation you like.
A nationalist: A patriot whose nation you do not like. Or an excess of patriotic zeal.
Place South Park routine with Cartman and Butters in Chinese Restaurant.....
Yeah... just another reason why she's soooooooo unqualified. She can't even carry on a conversation!
What an a$$hole...
Looks like Palin turned the “gotcha” tables on them.
I’ll second your reply. There’s absolutely no chance at all that they’d ever take a quote that far out of context to go after a Dem. It was calculated and done with malice.
Really?? That question was delibrately misleading, and it has taken days for them to fess up!!
“At least Griffin admitted it.”
He did’t admit it. He said it was a mistake (”I botched it”). If he was that incompetent, CNN would have fired him a long time ago, or never hired him.
It wasn’t a mistake. He intentionally misquoted the article. HE IS NOT ADMITTING THE TRUTH.
OMG!!! Niger Innis seems like a decent guy and MSNBC better have fired the person that made the error.
Will CNN devote an hour-long program to York and Lowry and allow them to fully explain what the original and true meaning of the article was?
If not, we have further proof that CNN needs to have their building dragged eastward until it splashes into the sea.
Drew Griffin just is sorry that he got caught.
His ‘non-apology’ apology was not a real apology.
“This is total BS! When will we learn to start calling these people out!”
That’s what Sarah does. She calls them out. Finally, a Republican with b.... Oh, that’s right. Never mind.
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