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Just now, Wolf Blitzer spoke to Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Brig. Gen. David Grange on The Situation Room about the controversy surrounding the insurgent tape aired by CNN last week.
Representative Hunter, chairperson of the House Armed Services Committee, said CNN should not have shown the tape, as it is "propaganda for the bad guys." Hunter went on to state that most Americans know that the war is taking a toll on the troops, and this situation is "not a case of people not knowing Americans are being shot."
Brig. Gen. Grange said he was approached by CNN to view the tape and give his opinion. Grange said he agreed to do so only if CNN met a few criteria, two of which being that CNN would not show on air any American being shot and that CNN would state up front that the tape clearly was propaganda for the insurgents. Grange pointed out to Blitzer that CNN met both of these criteria while airing the tape--CNN did not show any Americans being shot, and before showing the tape during his show Anderson Cooper 360, Anderson Cooper stated emphatically that the tape was insurgent propaganda.
Blitzer then asked Hunter if it is appropriate for the American public to see how violent the war can be, and if the public has the right to know when things like this happen. Hunter stated that this is the first generation of Americans who are able to go online and view the violence of this war, and that this war is one of "more brutality" than others past. Hunter also said several times that airing the tape was of no value to CNN, and hinted it was perhaps a ratings grab by the network.
Grange suggested that the video could be used against the insurgents because it gives information about how their snipers are operating. Hunter disagreed, stating that the tape is "highly suggestive and highly instructive" to terrorists, and by showing the tape, CNN was helping spread enemy propaganda.
As his final point, Blitzer brought up the letter written by Hunter and two Republican colleagues, Reps. Darrell Issa and Brian Bilbray, sent to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The letter asked Secretary Rumsfeld to remove all CNN reporters embedded with US armed forces. Blitzer asked Hunter for clarification about the letter, and Hunter responded by asking, "Does CNN want the US to win?"
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I'm sure there will be more on this in the future, as there are many people questioning CNN's patriotism. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
15 comentarios:
the tape is "highly suggestive and highly instructive" to terrorists
Oh boy. I guess I missed the instructions part.
Hunter responded by asking, "Does CNN want the US to win?"
Somebody should urgently give Hunter a lesson about the role of media. Courtney, maybe you should send him the link to FreakSpeaker site for a start? I'm afraid he totally missed out on that part of his political education.
Hi, Manda! Welcome to FreakSpeakers, and thank you for the compliment. I'm glad you enjoy our blog.
...and that this war is one of "more brutality" than others past.
Um, is he on crack? Did everyone else in the other wars kill each other politely?
Amanda, check out my latest post:
http://www.andersoncooper360review.blogspot.com
It echos your post.
I'm MSNBC --they are talkeing about sniper tape
@Ivy-I just saw that. Unbelievable. This thing is really getting big and I'm starting to get nervous for the show. They're getting massively slammed.
I watched the segment on Scarborough Country--interesting to see the different perspectives. I thought Pat Buchanan was going to have a stroke, though that's not an unusual reaction for him. ;-)
Anyone see Keith Olbermann's Special Comment to President Bush tonight? Excellent, as usual.
for people who did not see: -)
on Scarborough they showed 2 360 clips with Anderson talking about airing the sniper tape and had a heated discussion about it. Pat Buchanan called it a snuff tape and said government should treat CNN like Al-Jazeera since they air enemy propaganda. Though he mentioned he doesn't mind CNN as a news channel and thinks Cooper is a good guy. They used Anderson's photo as a logo for the segment.
Also Keith Olbermann in his awesome "Special Comment", which focused on republican election commercial with Bin Laden, talked about Hunter and others condemning CNN (they had Anderson's photo as a logo) for aiding terrorists. He made a point that the commercial republicans used was indeed airing terrorist propaganda. Olbermann accused republicans of using the old principle of "scaring people into believing they're in danger and then only you can save them". And another quote "...By this deffinition the leading terrorist group in this world right now is Al-Qaida, but the leading terrorist group in this country right now is the republican party..."
Oh, God. Censorship, anyone? What the hell is this the Soviet Union under Brezhnev???
Yeah, censorship seems to be popular during war.
And especially when a crucial election is looming.
@eliza & courtney
Olbermann was amazing tonight, wasn't he? He really gave it to'em -)I couldn't believe he said some things he said -) I'm glad you watched. I was going to switch a channel but Anderson was the first thing I saw on Scarborough so I stayed tuned - you don't see Anderson on a competetive channel every day -lol
@eliza -when I saw Anderson's photo used as a logo (and not the screencap let's say), I was like - "oh-oh" -). Though nobody blamed him directly among show's participants that can make viewers associate this controversy with Anderson, not just CNN in general. And everybody knows decision was made on the highest levels of CNN, not by Anderson personally.
@ivy-Even though it was by no means just Anderson's decision, it's his face out there, so he's getting the brunt of some of it. A couple of people posted to my blog what they've been reading out on the internets. It's pretty sick what some people are saying about him.
@eliza -I know, I agree. And I read your blog -) I wasn't sure it's a good thing colleges on MSM (not regular bloggers) making him a symbol -- they know who makes decisions like that. Unless they want to help him with ratings -)
HuffPo hasn't picked up on "snipergate" yet, which is surprising. Does Andrew Sullivan give anybody else the creeps?
@Ivy-I don't even know what's up with Joe Scarbough lately. I never watch the show, but since I watch Keith I usually see what he leads with and it's always something that's not quite news or it's news about the news-as with snipergate. For a while he was discussing The Daily Show. It's like he's not even trying to be an actual news show anymore. I'm guessing he's covering snipergate for ratings. Has anyone looked on Faux? I'm curious as to whether they're covering it. If so, they would do it to fire up conservatives.
@annick-I was on Huffingtonpost last night and was surprised there was nothing there. Odd. Andrew Sullivan is growing on me. I like his blog okay and while I used to think he came off as a jerk in interviews, lately he's seemed better.
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