NBC Removed Reference To Amanpour To "Further Continue Our Inquiry"

[sabra]

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnn/nbc_removed_reference_to_amanpour_to_further_continue_our_inquiry_30381.asp

NBC Removed Reference To Amanpour To "Further Continue Our Inquiry"

Yesterday, MSNBC.com published a transcript of Andrea Mitchell's interview with author James Risen about the CIA's domestic spying program. In it, Mitchell asked Risen if he had uncovered evidence that CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour was eavesdropped upon. It was a specific and pointed question that led AMERICAblog to ask if the veteran journalist had been spied on by the Bush administration. This afternoon, MSNBC.com removed the portion of the transcript that referred to Amanpour. (Here's what it originally said.) In a statement to TVNewser tonight, NBC explained why:

"Unfortunately this transcript was released prematurely. It was a topic on which we had not completed our reporting, and it was not broadcast on 'NBC Nightly News' nor on any other NBC News program. We removed that section of the transcript so that we may further continue our inquiry."

full details of this developing story here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=51423&mesg_id=51423


*edit: AmericaBlog's analysis of the NBC response:

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/01/nbc-confirms-its-investigating-whether.html

NBC confirms it's investigating whether Bush spied on CNN's Christiane Amanpour
by John in DC - 1/04/2006 10:27:00 PM


That is the only way to read NBC's just-issued statement on why they deleted key portions of Andrea Mitchell's interview after we reported on it here earlier today.

Via Atrios and MediaBistro:


Unfortunately this transcript was released prematurely. It was a topic on which we had not completed our reporting, and it was not broadcast on 'NBC Nightly News' nor on any other NBC News program. We removed that section of the transcript so that we may further continue our inquiry.
This is quite big. Note exactly what NBC said.



- NBC did not say it pulled the references to Bush spying on Amanpour because it was inappropriate conjecture about something which Andrea Mitchell had no evidence.

- No, NBC said it pulled the references because it was still investigating the accusation and didn't want to scoop itself before it was finished investigating. And make no mistake, NBC is "continuing their inquiry."


That's incredibly big news.

[hang a left]

1. Story is growing some leggys....n/t

[cwydro]

2. whoa

scary...

[marylanddem]

3. Amanpour is married to Jamie Rubin - a Kerry advisor

during the campaign.

[fishnfla]

4. Professional courtesy? or are they sitting on a scoop?

?

[babylonsister]

10. I've read that Risen supposedly didn't

know anything about Amanpour. So was Mitchell speaking prematurely about something,
or just a wild guess?
William Safire has said he's been wiretapped (I prefer spied on). I'll bet it's making
every valid journalist wonder if they've been targets.

[tavalon]

17. It's a wee bit late

Cat's out of the bag.

[Burried News]

5. Corporate shills nailed by the blogosphere. How sweet it is.

[Jim Sagle]

11. And aWAY we GO!!!!!!!

:D

[lumberjack_jeff]

13. To the moon, Norton! To the MOON! n/t

[babylonsister]

6. We're being

watched. :hide:

[marylanddem]

8. Undoubtedly. n/t

[justabob]

7. "to further continue our inquiry"

Maybe I have just gotten too cynical, but when I read this, the image that came to mind was the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark when the government people tell Indiana that "top experts" will be looking into it, meanwhile the crated Ark is being rolled through a massive warehouse never to see the light of day again.

[woodsprite]

9. I'm afraid Abramoff is the same thing. n/t

[Doctor_J]

12. At the request of Turd Blossom

who is now the King of All Media.

[Burried News]

14. Gee I wonder if they were listening in on Dan Rather and 60 minutes?

After all that interview with Saddam Hussein before the Iwreck War would seem to haven been pretext enough.

Suddenly the 'Genius' of Karl Rove during the Swift Boating of Dan Rather seems a little more ... shall we say, nuanced?

How do they win so often - how do they always seem one step ahead of the opposition - how do they always seems a little better prepared than the opposition - when they are thrown off stride how do they always seem to recover very quickly - yeah they are geniuses - cheating, double dealing, sneaky, underhanded, scummy liars and cheats.

Defending the country is the very last thing on their twisted corrupted minds.

[babylonsister]

16. By Jove! Please start the Dan Rather meme in its own

thread at your leisure. I think that's important and now explains a lot! :think:

[Kolesar]

23. You're saying bushco was listening in on Rather's phone calls and...

...henceforth set him up for a big fall on the 60 minutes/awol/Mary Mapes story. Is that not what you are saying? There is some hinted context here that is not 100% clear. Please confirm. over

(Skinnerco needs to enable a "cat out of the bag" smilie for threads like this)

[Burried News]

27. Pure speculation on my part. But this is what I am thinking:

CBS outed Armon Milchan who I read as a Neocon supporter/sympathizer.
60 Minutes was on their shit list for Richard Clarke's story - they were 1st to release.
60 Minutes had the interview with Saddam where he said he said the administration was lying.
60 Minutes was going after Bush's service record.
And finally given their irrational hatred of Rather - they wanted him bad and probably out of the way for their election shennanigans to come in 2004.


After the service record story broke the administration immediately went on the attack. CBS came back and backed Rather and he said he had experts verrifying the documents. They called him on it. How were they so certain they had him? How did they know for sure that all he had was a handwriting expert and the Secretary for the Colonel who was the purported author. For every step in the story the administration answered quickly and with certainty - they were just too damn sure of themselves and too quick. Even if they had someone inside CBS, even if they had a direct link with those who forged the document they could not have responded so quickly. My read is that they were listening in on Rather, his bosses and his exchanges with his experts who were not physically in the same building with him. The administration played poker with CBS and won big time - my explation is that they were peeking at the cards as well as dealing from the bottom of the deck.

Would I bet the ranch on the above - NO, but until I see a list of who they were listening to, I and others like me have no choice but to engage in speculation and try to read the tea leaves and encourage others to look back at events and ask "If they were ease dropping on this situation would it help explain what otherwise seems incomplete, baffling or downright weird".

[DemonFighterLives]

15. She was one of the best reporters in Iraq

She was silenced and it wouldn't surprise me if she was spied on. It really is lucky that she is still around considering the fates of many journalists that covered Iraq.

[oasis]

18. kick

[BenDavid]

19. What it means to Clinton, Clark and Kerry

NBC's Andrea Mitchell - based on some information she clearly hasn't yet made public - is asking if Bush specifically wiretapped CNN's Christiane Amanpour. The fact that the question was asked so publicly and so specifically means that Mitchell knows something.

Why would Bush do this? Because, as I reported a few weeks ago, journalists have some of the best contacts out there and it's not unusual for journalists to talk to both sides of the story, or in this case, the good guys and the "evil doers." What a better, if not illegal, way to find the terrorists and their associates?

But before you say "yeah, go for it," consider the implications of tapping Christiane Amanpour's phones:

1. Such a wiretap would likely include her home, office, and cell phones, and email correspondence, at the very least.

2. That means anyone Christiane has conversed with in the past four years, at least by phone or email, could have had their conversation taped by the US government.

3. That also means that anyone who uses any of Christiane's telephones or computers (work or home) could also have had their conversation bugged.

4. This includes Christiane's husband, former Clinton administration senior official Jamie Rubin, who was spokesman for the State Department.

5. Jamie Rubin was also chief foreign policy adviser to General Wesley Clark's presidential campaign, and then worked as a senior national security adviser to John Kerry's presidential campaign.

6. Did Jamie Rubin ever use his home phone, his wife's work phone, his wife's cell phone, her home computer or her work computer to communicate with John Kerry or Wesley Clark? If so, those conversations would have been bugged if Bush was tapping Amanpour.

7. Did Jamie Rubin ever in the past four years communicate with any elected officials in Washington, DC - any Senators or members of the US House? Any senior members of the Democratic party?

8. Has Rubin spoken with Bill Clinton, his former boss, in the past 4 years?

Now you understand how potentially broad a violation of privacy the Bush doctrine on illegal domestic spying really is. Everyone who's anyone is a degree or two of separation away from a terrorist.

AMERICAblog by John in DC - 1/04/2006 03:23:00 PM

[incapsulated]

20. There is a thread in GDP on that

This could have been their way "in" through the back door without directly going after Dems.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2349637&mesg_id=2349637

[JawJaw]

21. Deja Vu

"inappropriate conjecture"
"no evidence"


Didn't stop the networks cheerleading Bush's pet invasion of Iraq on the WMD pretext, did it?

[allisonthegreat]

22. hell they are spying on everyone else...

your right to privacy went down the porcelain fixture when Bush took office.

[Kber]

24. On a tin foil hat theme

if NBC isn't ready to report on this story yet, but Andrea blurted the specific question out on the air, she alerted the admin to the fact that NBC is researching this issue didn't she.

That's unfortunate.

[Tesla]

25. I can't see a seasoned reporter just blurting out 2 big "Hidden"

secrets like she has lately. I mean, she is OBVIOUSLY using the open airwaves to warn people of what the Media is investigating.
Hide in plain sight!

[Supersedeas]

26. but isn't Mitchell fairly kind to make the govt aware before the

investigation is complete