Just when you think the mainstream media couldn't sink any lower, they prove they can. CNN, which distinguished itself in the Israeli/Hezhbollah conflict by using altered images and employing terrorist sympathizers as reporters, now is trying to gin up its pathetic ratings by airing videos--provided by terrorists--of American soldiers being murdered. CNN is claiming the videos came unsolicited. One has to wonder. ****************************** -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CNN airs footage of Iraq sniper attacks By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer Thu Oct 19, 8:39 PM ET NEW YORK - A CNN executive said Thursday the network's effort to present the "unvarnished truth" about the Iraq war led it to televise portions of a video that shows insurgent snipers targeting U.S. military personnel. The tape, which came to the network unexpectedly through contact with an insurgent leader, was aired first Wednesday night on "Anderson Cooper 360" and repeated on Thursday. In one instance, the tape shows a uniformed member of the U.S. military milling in a public area with Iraqis. A shot rings out. CNN fades the screen to black before the result â described as a victim falling forward â is visible. It's one of 10 separate sniper attacks on Americans documented on the tape, which CNN technicians concluded was authentic, said David Doss, executive producer of Cooper's show, in a Web log entry describing the network's decision what to show. CNN could not determine the identity of any of the sniper victims, spokeswoman Christa Robinson said. Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware had been in contact through intermediaries with Ibrahim al-Shammari, a leader for the rebel group Islamic Army. Ware had sent al-Shammari a series of questions about the insurgency in Iraq, Doss explained. In reply, al-Shammari sent two tapes. One reportedly showed him, with face concealed, responding to the questions. The other showed the sniper incidents, seemingly taken by the insurgents themselves, CNN said. CNN understood that some critics might find that the tape had public relations benefits for the insurgency, Doss wrote. "We also understood that this kind of footage is upsetting and disturbing for many viewers," he said. "But after getting beyond the emotional debate, we concluded the tape meets our criteria for newsworthiness." The decision was subject to "hours of intense editorial debate" at CNN's highest levels, he said. Doss said he had already received several angry responses from viewers of Wednesday's five-minute report, some wondering whether CNN was helping the enemy and others concerned that the tape was inappropriate for young viewers who may have happened upon it. "Whether or not you agree with us in this case, our goal, as always, is to present the unvarnished truth as best we can," Doss said
Fox News viewers like their "truth" varnished and run through the spin cycle before they swallow it whole....
Military men cannot be "murdered" by an enemy sniper. They were KIA! Conversely, our troops cannot murder our enemies on the field of combat. To address the expected question of, who are our enemies? Whoever the troops on the ground determine they are, thats who!! We should expect no sympathy from our enemies and their supporters. They damn sure don't deserve any from us. As to whether CNN should show actual combat footage of our troops being killed....why not? People need to know just what the fuck is going on over there. We also need to quit feeling sorry for dead enemy combatents. Seeing our guys take the hit may help in that regard.
It even makes you wonder if the snipers are employees of cnn since they are so anti-US and ratings, man! Showbiz! Money!
One reason their conduct is so despicable is that it will only encourage more terrorists to try to get on TV. No doubt CNN producers are scouring the slums of Baghdad even as we post, looking for new videos. Now that that taboo has been broken, how long before they go out on missions with the terrorists, broadcasting live?
Lawmaker Outraged by Sniper Footage on CNN By Tony Perry, Times Staff Writer October 21, 2006 SAN DIEGO â CNN has become "the publicist for an enemy propaganda film" by broadcasting a video showing an insurgent sniper in Iraq apparently killing an American soldier, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said here Friday. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) called for the Pentagon to oust any CNN reporter embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq. "I think Americans like to think we're all in this together," Hunter said. "The average American Marine or soldier has concluded after seeing that film that CNN is not on their side." CNN said it broadcast the brief video to show the threat that insurgent snipers posed to U.S. troops. "Whether or not you agree with us in this case, our goal, as always, is to present the unvarnished truth as best we can," CNN producer David Doss wrote in a blog on the network's website. Tony Snow, President Bush's press secretary, said the insurgents were hoping to "break the will of the American people" by giving the video to CNN. The footage was shown first on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" program, of which Doss is executive producer, and then on several news shows. It remained on CNN's website Friday. Doss said CNN Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware received the video after communicating â through intermediaries â with Ibrahim Shammari, a spokesman for the Islamic Army. Doss said the decision to broadcast the video came after hours of "intense editorial debate." He said one compromise was made: The moment when the bullet hits the soldier's head is blacked out. The soldier's face and unit patches were not clear, so identifying him was impossible, CNN said. Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Carlsbad), who with Hunter and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, called the film "nothing short of a terrorist snuff film." Snow, at his regular news briefing in Washington, said the video was misleading because it made it appear that Americans were "sitting ducks" and that insurgents were winning the war. In truth, he said, insurgents "are dying in much greater numbers and suffering much greater damage." The Pentagon had no comment on the video. Embedded reporters sign pledges not to show the faces of dead American troops until their families are notified, but nothing prohibits the use of pictures in which identities are not discernible. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clearly, since the advent of photography, newsmen and editors have made decisions to not publish death footage in either print or electronically. A photo of Saigon police commander Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong prisoner was perhaps the single most famous photo of the war. Why? Because death in film is rare. Your local Fox affiliate, you know the one, the station that leads off each night with a half dozen carjackings, drive-bys and convenience store murders, even they elect not to use dead bodies. It's really a battle of "old school" decorum and the obliqueness that engulfed "edited" secrets vs. the modern approach of anything goes, let's be completely transparent. Certainly there's forces within modern media who look upon expanding the envelop as sensationalistic pandering while others look upon a completely free, uninhibited media as truth. It's a tough call. In a sense everyone's privacy has been compromised by technology. Whether it's on-line snooping or the deaths of soldier's being recorded, little we do is excluded from view. I see nothing stopping that intrusive trend.
It doesn't surprise me that CNN's decision to air that footage outraged the chickenhawks. Nor does it surprise me that they equate it to high treason. The falacious arguments to send other people's kids to die in Iraq are far too weak to withstand even the slightest glimmer of truth and they know it. Bushit's want to be lied to as they want all of us to be lied to. They want us to goose step to the administration's marching orders and worry that we wont if we know the truth. The truth is simply the truth. If the truth deters us from fighting the war then we shouldn't be fighting it. We should never fight a war that is not worth the sacrifice. Newsreels of WWII generally inspired support among the general populace. . On the other hand, only the most most loyal Nazi's were allowed to know the truth about the death camps. Free press generally afforded Israel enough leeway to go about as far as they did in Lebanon recently, which was about as far as they should have gone. Even with free press the Vietnam War was allowed to go on much longer than it should have. Had public opinion been suppressed and Curious George been in power WE WOULD STILL BE FIGHTING THAT WAR. A noble society with noble leaders fights noble wars which are supported by it's people despite the ugly horrors that accompany the war. They do not hide their dead in warehouses and transport their bodies in the dark of night. They solemnly welcome their dead home, honor them, and face the sacrifice. The chickenhawks that will accuse the press of being "un-patriotic" for showing real things that happen and the horror of war disgust me. Face the truth you dickweeds, if the pea brain rationalizations you accept so readily is not enough to convince the society as a whole to accept the war then live with the possibility that you and your chickenshit leader might just be wrong.