Arianna tries to get Chuck Roberts fired

[kstewart33]

On CNN's Reliable Sources this weekend:

KURTZ: Arianna Huffington, you're obviously on a different side of the political fence than Charles Johnson, but do you think this is another example of bloggers, you know, holding the mainstream media accountable?

HUFFINGTON: Absolutely. In fact, I want to congratulate Charles. That is exactly what bloggers should be doing. It was outrageous what Reuters allowed to appear. And the fact that they fired the photographer, it was the only legitimate response.

And I want to take this a step further and say that we should hold all journalists accountable, whether they are photojournalists or not, for deceptive statements, whether they're images or words.

I mean, you had your own headline anchorman, Chuck Roberts, describe Lamont as the al Qaeda candidate. This is an equally deceitful, fraudulent, fabricated statement. There should be zero tolerance for all those deceits, whether in images or words.

KURTZ: Well, what Chuck Roberts said, according to the transcript, was that some are calling Ned Lamont the al Qaeda candidate. But it's certainly not a formulation I would have used.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/fraudulent-words-and-imag_b_27188.html

For the video: http://www.crooksandliars.com/

[LynneSin]

1. "Some People Say......"

That was from the 'Outfoxed' DVD - an excellent documentary by Robert Greenwald. But he pointed out that this phrase was overused to cover-up actually proof & sourcing.

"Some People Say" usually means the heads at Fox News.

I guess the Conservative News Network is picking up on that trend

[ixion]

8. exactly... it's FAUX attribution, in every sense of the phrase

and it's very poor journalism in general.

"Some say" is bogus. Who said it? That's what a journalist is supposed to report. "Some say" is HEAR SAY, and not attribution. :grr:

That, my friends, is Journalism 101.

[Toots]

9. Not just hear say but rumor and gossip

CNN is spreading rumor and gossip and there is no denying it...

[ixion]

12. good point...

and semantically more accurate, I think. :yourock:

[City Lights]

2. He should be fired.

Go Arianna! :applause:

[RufusEarl]

3. Some people say you've quit beating your wife, any truth to that sir?

[chelsea0011]

4. Anytime anyone uses the "some people say", the immediate

response should always be, "name them".

[BlooInBloo]

5. Kurtz should be fired for his mendacity as well....

He knows PERFECTLY well that the locution "some say" is used by politicians and journamalists to me "I want to say this, but am too cowardly". Kurtz tried to play it the phrase off on Ariana as though it means what it says at FACE VALUE. Thus Kurtz took an ACTIVE role in defending the shill Chuck "alQuaeda candidate" Roberts - by implicitly lying.

God these people suck.

[KoKo]

7. Kurtz is a master of the "some people say" and using examples to

diffuse criticism that only support his point of view. He's a double talker in a very subtle way but still a double talker in that you can hear what you want to hear in what he writes or says unless you look really close at his history. I gave up on Howie awhile back when I woke up to what he was doing. I used to be a fan of his WaPo Media column until 2000 when I saw how he really spins for the Repugs and admitted that Rich Lowery was a close friend of his. He quoted him constantly... :-(

[napi21]

6. Phrases like that have been used by all segments of the media

for YEARS to drop inuendos and/or hide sources.

On a personal experience, about 14 years ago, the company I worked for was doing very well due to a great new product we had, and our stock price was soaring for about 6 months. One day, CNBC had a short statement on it's "Stock news at NOON" segment. The slimey reporter said "Word on the street has it that XXXX XXXXXXXXX's of XXXXXX, SC has ties to the Mafia and the Mexican corruption."

NONE of that was true, but our COO contacted our attorney's to SUE THEIR XXXX's OFF! The atttorney's said, Sorry Mike, but you can't do a thing! The guy didn't say "YOU DID HAVE TIES", he prefaced his comments with "Word on the street says" therefore he can say anything he damn well pleases!

Believe it or not, that comment generated a Federal investigation that lasted for over 6 years, bankrupted the company, and proved in the end THERE WERE NO ILLEGAL TIES TO ANYONE!

It's a smarmy way to do business, but it's been going on for a very long time!

[halobeam]

11. Since it was proven untrue, didn't that prove slander?

[xchrom]

10. arianna rocks!

:yourock: :woohoo: :yourock:

[saltpoint]

13. Huffington is right to challenge CNN on its own skullduggery.

Roberts owes a public apology for the characterization.

She's right. CNN's lazy, as they often are.

[warrens]

14. Excellent

This is the kind of thing that really stings, being named for a discrete act on national television. You gotta name names and provide quotes. That is an unforgiveable sentence, unless you then go on to identify the "some" as right-wing thug activists.