Misfires on 9/11 Anniversary
CNN anchors and commentators were trying to figure out what happened on the Potomac River Friday morning at about the same time the President was speaking at the 9/11 Memorial Service at the Pentagon.
Having reported that the Coast Guard had fired on suspicious boats in a restricted area of the river near the memorial, based on Coast Guard radio transmissions and video of the chase, it turned out that it was only a Coast Guard training exercise.
CNN had reported that 10 rounds of shots had been fired. John King reported later that the Secret Service had been assured that it was a training exercise, which Homeland Security later confirmed. (Watch video below.)
At press time, CNN was calling for answers from the Coast Guard as to why the exercise was held on Sept. 11 and why the press, and apparently some government officials, were not warned in advance.
Speaking on CNN, Frances Fragos Townsend, former Bush administration Homeland Security adviser and former assistant commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, said it was inexcusable that the exercise had been held on 9/11 and that the press had not been notified.
CNN ultimately reported that it was not a “major” exercise, but instead a regular training exercise the Coast Guard does every day, which is why it was not passed up the chain of command.
Kyra Phillips said the Coast Guard was also suggesting that CNN may have jumped the gun by reporting from radio scanner information before getting through to the Coast Guard.
Pardon my French, but bullhockey.
No excuse for a training exercise on 9/11 near the memorial service without giving news media a heads up. Was CNN too quick to go with the story? In hindsight, maybe, but I can hardly blame them for reporting that boats appeared to be in a restricted area and shots appeared to have been fired, since that was the evidence of their eyes and ears.
Particularly when some government officials didn’t know what was happening either.
“This is a perfect teaching moment,” Phillips said. Agreed, but most of the learning needs to be done by the government.
sentry commented:
The sad state on "News" these days is highlighted in this story.
"BREAKING NEWS" is the wet dream of cable and broadcast news organizations... "We got the scoop" seems to be more important than we tell the truth... or even the less lofty, "we report the news".
Wedsnesday... there was an incident in Mexico City. It turned out to be far less than what all the cable networks were talking, talking, talking about.
I am so tired of these folks loving the sound of hier own voice.
I'd like some truth... or at least, news -- just the news.
Joe Mac commented:
This just in: CNN is reporting that NEO is not the one and that Morpheus was wrong.
Later: CNN reports that NEO is the one and refuses to apologize to Morpheus.
Even Later: CNN reports it confused broadcast of the Matrix for reality. Refuses to apologize to Lord of the Rings fans.
Alleen commented:
No, John, CNN needs to learn how to check things out before they fly into a panic.
Since when does the Coast Guard have to cancel their daily training exercises because it is 9/11/09? CNN reported gunfire. In fact, the coast guard used the words "bang bang" to represent gunfire over their official radio channel. What kind of fool thinks a human voice saying "bang bang" is gunfire?
CNN was irresponsible, created the panic, misinterpreted the facts, misled the public by saying that Obama was in the area when he'd was not.
By the way, the police told CNN that it was a training exercise. The reason someone probably was confused was because CNN called to ask why shots were fired. Naturally, no one could answer that because IT DID NOT HAPPEN.
Then Fran Townsend comes on CNN and starts berating Janet Napolitano for allowing such an outrage to occur on a holy day like 9/11. What a partisan, ill-willed, poor excuse for a "CNN Contributor". I hope she's ashamed of herself for the ridiculous things she accused the government of this morning. And for being flat wrong and paranoid.