CNN Operator Fired

A CNN operator is reported to have said an 'X' placed over a live picture of Cheney's Face in the CNN control room was his right of free speech

 

While CNN has the right to report and comment on the news as it happens, in contrast, CNN cannot intentionally fabricate the news. If it does, it is no longer an issue of news but an issue of libel.

For this story of an 'X' . . . placed over a live video image of the vice president of the United States . . . to stay in the realm of free speech and not become libel, CNN would have had to report that, as a news agency, it was going to oppose the vice president of the United States by placing an 'X' over his face in protest whenever he was seen on any of their broadcasts.

It would then be up to CNN's viewers to decide if CNN was going to stay on the air, their act of "switching channels" translating to a lower market share fro CNN, the life blood of any television news room. This would also include CNN business opportunities, such as its news reports shown 24/7 on television screens throughout the nation's airports.

Drudge reported on his site on November 27, 2005, that there had been reports of a huge black "X" showing up over Vice President Cheney's face during a live speech. Drudge had also reported earlier that a CNN senior executive, in an immediate response to the event as it was becoming news, had said it was simply a switching error. We knew that wasn't true, having worked in an editing bay and knowing that a specific graphic like an 'X' could never overlay a video image unless it was intentionally superimposed there by someone who was in control.

Drudge reported the following:

'A CNN switchboard operator was fired over the holiday -- after the operator claimed the 'X' placed over Vice President's Dick Cheney's face was "free speech!"

"We did it just to make a point. Tell them to stop lying, Bush and Cheney," the CNN operator said to a caller. "Bring our soldiers home."

The caller initially phoned the network to complain about the all-news channel flashing an "X' over Cheney as he gave an address live from Washington.

"Was it not freedom of speech? Yes or No?" the CNN operator explained.

"If you don't like it, don't watch."

Laurie Goldberg, Senior Vice President for Public Relations with CNN, said in a release:

"A Turner switchboard operator was fired today after we were alerted to a conversation the operator had with a caller in which the operator lost his temper and expressed his personal views -- behavior that was totally inappropriate. His comments did not reflect the views of CNN. We are reaching out to the caller and expressing our deep regret to her and apologizing that she did not get the courtesy entitled to her. "

To make matters worse and when bringing up CNN's Web site today, there was no mention of the incident on its homepage. But more importantly, there was no apology, either.

We, of course, believe this act reflects the views perfectly of CNN, and see the above statement from CNN's PR manager as a corporate cover up. The environment that Ted Turner, the creator of CNN, had built within his news agency guaranteed it would be a corrupt one, where personal opinion would stain the truth of the stories that were being reported.

CNN is one in the same that made a deal with Saddam to not report the murdering of Iraqi Civilians, in turn Saddam allowing CNN to keep its news agency in Iraq while others had been kicked out of the country.

CNN, when caught a few years later, had said it was sorry. If you believe that, then I have a bridge for sale in Brooklyn you might be interested in.

We had asked at the time, "Why would CNN, an international news agency, want to keep a news office in Iraq if it knew it was going to report only those stories Saddam would approve before being transmitted to the world?"

That's a slap in the face to all young American men and women in uniform who have died in Iraq for Iraqi freedom. It's also a gross misrepresentation of its directive to report the news and not to make it up or delete stories that would benefit CNN's bottom line. Why would anyone trust this news agency to represent their right to know unless they were in agreement with CNN's agenda, one that has distorted news in the past to purposely change the decisions of its viewers about the country they live in.

We see CNN for simply what it acts like . . . a hostile international corporation located on American soil that needs to be fixed or closed.