Inside Edition misses obvious scandal, reporting fluff instead.

[ochazuke]

They just repeated what all Letterman viewers already know about the kid yawning while the chimp gave his speech. Inside Edition's story ended with an 'all's well that ends well' feeling, as if nothing scandalous happened here.

So, I e-mailed them at [e-mail] with this missive:

See Paul Krugman's column in today's New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/02/opinion/02KRUG.html

You missed the real story here! It seems someone inside the White House is behind this, or someone at CNN is trying to protect the White House's political interests. Either way, it's a scandal.

Your report was a superficial re-telling of what Letterman viewers already know. Live up to your name, INSIDE Edition!

(end of my message to Inside Edition)

[Syrinx]

1. Damn, that's an excellent piece by Krugman!

And congrats on your email, but I didn't even know Inside Edition was still on the air.

[ochazuke]

4. Krugman exposes the fact that the media whores for bush

I think the last paragraph in that article deserves a quote here:

And administration officials shouldn't be able to spread stories without making themselves accountable. If an administration official is willing to say something on the record, that's a story, because he pays a price if his claims are false. But if unnamed "administration officials" spread rumors about administration critics, reporters have an obligation to check the facts before giving those rumors national exposure. And there's no excuse for disseminating unchecked rumors because they come from "the White House," then denying the White House connection when the rumors prove false. That's simply giving the administration a license to smear with impunity.

(end of quote)

Other media should jump all over this, but they probably won't because it's about something that SEEMS trivial (a twelve-year-old yawning) but isn't (manipulation of the news media by an unscrupulous White House).

[Syrinx]

5. I agree with everything you said

And the pugs claim CNN is liberal. Please.

[fearnobush]

2. Just sent a scathing letter to CNN.

CNN = The Conservative (Right Wing Media Whore) News Network... Forget FOX, Bush has CNN now to spread its lies to the people. And I will do all in my power to stop you!! Check out what I just read in the New York Times, OH and I just emailed it to over 1000 people who are also on to your support of the Bush band wagon of lies.

"CNN ran the Letterman clip on Tuesday, just before a commercial. Then the CNN anchor Daryn Kagan came back to inform viewers that the clip was a fake: "We're being told by the White House that the kid, as funny as he was, was edited into that video." Later in the day, another anchor amended that: the boy was at the rally, but not where he was shown in the video.

On his Tuesday night show, Mr. Letterman was not amused: "That is an out and out 100 percent absolute lie. The kid absolutely was there, and he absolutely was doing everything we pictured via the videotape."

But here's the really interesting part: CNN backed down, but it told Mr. Letterman that Ms. Kagan "misspoke," that the White House was not the source of the false claim. (So who was? And if the claim didn't come from the White House, why did CNN run with it without checking?)

In short, CNN passed along a smear that it attributed to the White House. When the smear backfired, it declared its previous statements inoperative and said the White House wasn't responsible. Sound familiar?"

Well it sure does to me and many tens of thousands more. We are exposing your lies for Bush to the world. The battle has only just begun.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/02/opinion/02KRUG.html>

[grannylib]

3. Wonder how much campaign money is being spent to buy their

coverage, or is that just coming out of the treasury?