Arianna Huffington was on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” with Howard Kurtz yesterday. The topic was a rightwing blog’s revelation that news photos from the Israel-Hezbollah war were doctored but Arianna turned the tables on Howie by bringing up a rather egregious bit of wordsmithing by CNN newsreader Chuck Roberts:
HUFFINGTON: I mean, you had your own headline anchorman, Chuck Roberts, describe Lamont as the al Qaeda candidate. This is an equally deceitful, fraudulent, fabricated statement. There should be zero tolerance for all those deceits, whether in images or words.
KURTZ: Well, what Chuck Roberts said, according to the transcript, was that some are calling Ned Lamont the al Qaeda candidate. But it’s certainly not a formulation I would have used.
HUFFINGTON: You cannot find a single person who called Lamont the al Qaeda candidate, except Chuck Roberts. And what have been the consequences when it comes to Chuck Roberts? Has he been demoted to be covering Paris Hilton or entertainment news? … It’s about time that there is that same kind of accountability that Charles is demanding from photojournalists from journalists, as well.
Had anyone in the media ever called Lamont “the al Qaeda candidate?” Arianna says, no:
Indeed, an exhaustive Lexis Nexis search confirms that no one has called Lamont “the Al Qaeda candidate.” Except for Chuck Roberts. In fact, you know what you find if you Google “Al Qaeda candidate”? A lot of references to John Kerry being smeared by the RNC and its cronies during the 2004 election. Clearly, Lamont as “tha Al Qaeda candidate” is the latest rendition of an old G.O.P. tune.
Republicans have flourished under Bush because they have been able to elide in the public mind the 9/11 terrorist attacks by al Qaeda and their phony war in Iraq. Now that 60 percent of Americans view Bush’s war in Iraq as a mistake, the challenge for Democrats is to drive a wedge between the so-called War on Terror and the civil war caused by Bush’s bloodlust for Saddam Hussein.
What is clear is the “liberal” media will not be of any service in helping to separate our need for security against terrorism from the Iraq civil war.
- Topic: News & Comment
- Topics: Iraq, TV
I not only complained vociferously to CNN, I took one further step:
I used my v-chip parental controls to permanently block CNN and CNN’s Headline News. I blocked Faux long ago because even watching it for just SECONDS while channel surfing I was bound to hear something stupid enough to cause a “blood pressure event”.
BOYCOTT THE BASTARDS! And if you do write CNN be sure to identify which “demographic” you represent.
[...] story. For what it’s worth, we have been calling it a “civil war” since August.
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