You probably didn't know that CNN censored Putin for being just too darn sensible

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alternet.org/audits/98501/is_cnn_getting_kicked_out_of_russia/

Is CNN Getting Kicked Out of Russia?

By Yasha Levine, eXiled Online. Posted September 12, 2008.



Putin may strip CNN of its Russian broadcasting rights after it refused to air a 30 minute exclusive interview he gave the network.

You probably didn't know that CNN censored Putin for being just too darn sensible. Yep, it's true. About two weeks ago, Putin gave the network an exclusive 30-minute interview. And you know what happened? Nothing. It was never allowed to air. CNN doesn't know it yet, but that decision might have cost them their Russian broadcasting rights.

On August 29, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with senior political correspondent Matthew Chance for a CNN exclusive interview. "This was unprecedented access to Russia's powerful prime minister, the former KGB spy now increasingly at odds with Washington," an overly dramatic voice-over introduced the segment as Chance and Putin enjoyed pre-game banter and a walk through the courtyard of Putin's palatial Sochi residence. Once seated, Chance didn't waste any time with his provocative questions:


Matthew Chance: But it's been no secret either that for years you've been urging the West to take more seriously Russia's concerns about international issues. For instance, about NATO's expansion, about deployment of missile defense systems in eastern Europe. Wasn't this conflict a way of demonstrating that in this region, it's Russia that's the power, not NATO and certainly not the United States?

Vladimir Putin: Of course not. What is more, we did not seek such conflicts and do not want them in the future.

That this conflict has taken place -- that it broke out nevertheless -- is only due to the fact that no one had heeded our concerns.

I think both you and your -- our -- viewers today will be interested to learn a little more about the history of relations between the peoples and ethnic groups in this regions of the world. Because people know little or nothing about it.

If you think that this is unimportant, you may cut it from the program. Don't hesitate, I wouldn't mind.

It was a prescient comment. Not only did CNN delete Putin's historical roundup of relations between Russia, Georgia and South Ossetia going back to the 18th century that followed, the network cut out almost everything else as well. Despite the "unprecedented access" hook, for its U.S. feed, CNN reduced the 30-minute interview into a series of sound bites that seized and ridiculed Putin's crackpot theory that the Republican party started the war to boost McCain's ratings.

[burythehatchet]

1. That would be great. CNN - The most busted name in news!

[malaise]

2. No surprise here

We know that if it's not Bushco talking points we shouldn't expect coverage.

[ColbertWatcher]

3. Nice find! k+r, n/t

[leveymg]

4. That's not a "crackpot theory". Georgia attacked S. Ossetia w/Bushco's encouragement. The Russian

response to that was predictable, as was the impact on U.S. politics.

No, Putin's analysis is quite accurate, if unwelcome in Washington.

[Demeter]

5. Who Does CNN Think It Is?

Hope to see them go down in flames just like the banking system, for exceeding their natural limits of power.