CNN Reporting -- Now for the Real Story!!!!!!!!!!!

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Airwolf

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http://www.rcnetwork.net/Articles.php?cid=35&aid=728

CNN Reporting -- Now for the Real Story!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, March 30th, 2003

Bert Kinzey is a former Army officer who became an expert in military aviation and has authored literally dozens of books, principally aimed at the aviation enthusiast and scale modeler, and that are definitely apolitical.

However, with his research efforts on military subjects he has gained a wealth of contacts within the U.S. military, and is one of the premier authorities on military subjects in this country.

Please read what Bert has to say about CNN.
__________________________________________________________________
Subject: The Kinzey Report

Hello Everyone,

As many of you know, although some do not, I wrote a book about the Gulf War shortly after it ended in 1991. It was published by McGraw Hill, and was titled, "The Fury of Desert Storm, the Air Campaign." While that book's primary focus was on the air war, much of it also addressed the news coverage of the war. I pointed out how there were two big losers during that war; Iraq and the news media.

Both the news media and Iraq had many things in common, one of which was that they brought their problems on themselves. I explained how the news media, particularly CNN, inaccurately reported the war, misstating the facts, and in many cases deliberately telling outright lies. I dedicated an entire chapter to a dishonest CNN report about the B-1 bomber and evaluated its inaccuracies line by line. I illustrated that the report was full of lies, and these were about clearly established facts and not about someone's opinion. I spoke in person to the people in the Pentagon that CNN had been interviewed and filmed for that report, and they told me how CNN edited what they said to make it seem like they were saying exactly the opposite of what they actually said. I spoke with CNN's people here in Atlanta and at the Pentagon, including Wolf Blitzer, and he admitted he knew nothing about the military. A CNN employee in Atlanta admitted to me that they did not care if they got their reporting accurate. They only wanted to get it on the air first and in the most dramatic manner possible. Their primary purpose was to make money by selling ad space, not reporting the news. The story goes on and on.

Unfortunately, twelve years later, the situation has not improved at CNN.

I have watched them as well as other news sources recently, and their lies and inaccuracies are even more common than they were in 1991. Their bias is also beyond belief. They are showing almost exclusively an anti-war stance by people who are so delusioned that they believe that peace is merely the absence of war. While everyone, including news organizations, have their own bias, it is neither professional nor honest to concentrate almost exclusively on one side of an issue, particularly one so important as this. To do so presents an inaccurate and dishonest view of what is actually happening, and this does not allow viewers to form informed and valid opinions.

For example, CNN concentrates almost exclusively on those few nations that are against us in this effort and makes almost no mention of the many more that are supporting us. They ignore and do not report on our success in Afghanistan where we have returned women to classrooms and professional occupations and where people are returning to that country with expectations for a bring future free of terror, all thanks to America. Before we drove out the Taliban, people were fleeing Afghanistan.

CNN also makes the viewer believe that those who protest the war are in far great numbers than those who are supporting it. This is clearly not the case, and even CNN's own surveys show that 66% of Americans support military action to disarm Iraq. (ABC and FOX surveys place that percent in the upper 70s.) For example, this past Saturday, over 3,000 people turned out in Atlanta, the home of CNN, to support the war on a dreary and rainy day. At the same time, there was an anti-war rally in Atlanta that was attended by twenty-two, that's right TWENTY-TWO protesters. Anyone care to guess how CNN covered it? I recently heard the percentage of students that protested the war at universities across America, and in almost every case, it was less than one percent. That means that ninety-nine percent did not protest against the war, and in many cases the number gathering to support President Bush and our troops far exceed the number who protested against it. But who does CNN report? Clearly, all sides need to be presented in a balanced manner, and CNN skews their coverage extremely in one direction. In my view, their coverage with its inaccuracies, lies, distortions, and blame America first bias is nothing short of criminal.

CNN has seldom reported much about the continuing atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein throughout his time in power. Here is a man who has attacked his neighbor to the east and his neighbor to the southeast. Here is a man who has fired missiles at his neighbors to the southwest and the west.

Hussein has gassed his own people and habitually tortures those that disagree with him. He has had the wives and children of dissidents brought in and tortured, raped, and killed those family members before their very eyes. Here is a man who would destroy oil wells and dams to create ecological disasters and kill the Iraqi people. On the other side of the coin are the Americans who will bring freedom from this oppression to the Iraqis, who will bring food and medicine to them, who will protect Iraq's infrastructure, and who will treat Iraqi prisoners who surrender in a humane way. But CNN makes America out to be the bad guy! How does that work?

If you are like me and believe that the freedom of the press carries with it an obligation to be accurate, fair, balanced, and honest, I ask you to do two things. First, please pass this e-mail on to everyone you know so that they may realize what CNN is doing. Second, I ask you to stop the lies, turn off CNN, and send them an e-mail that you are doing so. I ask you to look elsewhere for your news coverage. I find the FOX News Network, The News Hour on PBS, and MSNBC to be far more fair. Sure, there is some bias anywhere, but it is not so extreme nor calculated. On these networks I hear both sides about equally. I hear about France like I do on CNN, but I also hear about Japan and Australiaas well as the many other countries that are backing us in so many ways. As of today, three countries in Europe are against us, and twenty-two have come out in support of us. Most of the twenty-two have never been mentioned on CNN, but representatives of France and Germany are on CNN almost hourly. So please take a look at several news choices and find one that is accurate, fair, and balanced. It is only that way that you will get an honest view of what is going on. I am not telling you which one to choose, I'm only asking you to turn off CNN.

It is not in my present plans to write another book for the general public on this war. But that may change. I am so sickened by the reporting of CNN that I may just do so. If I do, I will not focus on the air war this time.

Instead I will simply state the facts that clearly prove that CNN is lying and distorting the news about our country, our leaders, and our military.

Finally, I would like to remind you to do a third thing. As most of you know, I have a son who is a Navy pilot and who has been flying missions in the Middle East since last November. So, as the father of one of our deployed military personnel, and as a former Army officer myself, I ask all of you to remember our troops, support them, and pray for them even more than you usually do in these critical days ahead. I know many of you also have family members or friends who are over there ready to do their jobs in support of our country. It is those troops who keep us free, and who are ready to lay down their lives to protect our country. It is not the movie stars nor the news reporters that have ever protected us.

For those of you who pass this on to your friends, I thank you for your help in spreading the word about CNN.

God bless America,

Bert Kinzey
 
Aw, he's just a right-wing whacko militarist with an axe to grind against the free press and their alleged liberal bias. We all know the media in America is the tool of the state since media outlets are owned by big corporations.

They've been hyping this war to curry favor with the Bush administration and sway public opinion in favor. The only real unbiased journalism comes from overseas outlets like the BBC and The Guardian.


:D

So how did I do?
 
Thank you Airwolf for taking the time to share this with us. What applies to CNN applies to many of the major networks. It's not about informing the audience but ratings and advertising time. The media.:rolleyes: At least with the paper you can line the kitty litter box, polish your windows (after you wipe it down, roll a sheet of newspaper into a ball and polish the glass - it works), line the table (if you're too cheap to buy tablecloths - hey guys, it works) and to start fires with.
 
Last night on CNN, one of their "embedded" reporters spoke about an "Abraham" tank.

Umm, don't tanks get named after generals, and ships/airports/buildings get named after presidents?
 
aw shoot Al, that's nothing - did you know a humvee has a turret?? neither did I! (I think they mean a ring mount for an m.g.)
 
when was the BBC or the Guardian mentioned in that report? besides, the BBC World Service pretty much invented the whole idea of a global free news service (on the radio at least) and shows CNN to be the cheaper older model of al-Jazeera that it in fact is.

FOX is awful though and must only make sense if you cannot spell colour right

;)
 
Yakkin' about da nooze

Ok, a couple of gripes.
Yes, the mass media is a business, the idea being that higher ratings translate to higher rates paid for advertising time. It really irritates me to hear people say that like it's some sort of big conspiracy. Yes, the result is that reporters will try to put an 'edgy' spin on a story in order to get more viewers to tune in. You have a brain, engage it and use some of those critical thinking skills we all seem so proud of.

Besides, what's the alternative? State run media. Yippee skippee, we'd all be so much better if the fed.gov was running the show, I'm sure.:rolleyes:

Next up: Every news story is biased, and so is the outlet it came from.
Let me repeat that: Every news story is biased, and so is the outlet it came from.
The right-wing Republican who denies that FOX News has a bias is just as deluded as the left-wing Democrat who thinks that CNN is unbiased.
When you watch a news story or read the paper, don't just absorb it like a sponge. You should be asking yourself what the particular angle of the story is, and what position is being given the lion's share of space. Critical thinking skills again.

To moan about how the media should be unbiased isn't going to change anything. The media is a human endeavor, and one which will be skewed one way or the other. That's simply the nature of the beast.

Having said that, I will say that things are far better than they were a few years ago. FOX News, and to a certain extent, MSNBC, as well as the advent of the internet news media have given rise to a situation where you are free to pick and choose where and how you get your information, allowing you to tailor not only the content but also the bias to your personal tastes.

But don't fool yourself into thinking you're now getting bias free news.

(Having gone through that, I will say that FOX News is my first choice among the big 3 cable channels, at least they openly flaunt their bias, I'm sure that the wonks at CNN would get all bent out of shape if you pointed out their bias to them.)

[RANT
OFF]
 
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