Monday, Oct. 16 2006

Lyin' Again

I was very skeptical of the factual content of the segment on Ted Turner that Brit Hume ran on Tuesday's Grapevine, but was, at the time, unable to find a transcipt of Turner's remarks to check them against Hume's claims. This is what Hume has to say about the founder of CNN's comments to the National Press club:

Be Neutral

CNN founder Ted Turner has objected to displays of the American flag by journalists — saying they should have a more neutral posture. And now Turner says that he was not sure which side he was on in the War on Terror following the 9/11 terror attacks. Turner spoke to the National Press Club in Washington yesterday, and referred to a quote by President Bush in February of 2002:

"Our president said it very clearly. He said 'either you're with us, or you're against us.' And I had a problem with that because I really hadn't made my mind up yet." Turner did not say whether he has since made up his mind about which side he's on.

Fast forward to today and I find that my suspicions of bias and misrepresentation confirmed. You can read about it this story on Media Matters for America's website, (the story is about Sean Hannity, but the critique applies just as much to Hume's Grapevine segment) . I was also able to verify the site's critiques by following the link to the C-Span broadcast of Turner's remarks. Turner did make the above comments, but the comments that Hume dishonestly claims were remarks on the "war on terror" which was launched "following the 9/11 terror attacks" were actually an answer to a question about Turner's criticisms of the war in Iraq, and whether his patriotism had been questioned by supporters of the war. The back and forth on the subject begins at minute 43:14 with a question about Jane Fonda, Turner's ex-wife, and this exchange in particular starts at 44:05. Listeners will note that the context is clearly Iraq, and the "9/11 terror attacks" are not even mentioned in the question.