Wednesday, July 23, 2008

CBS edits interview to cover up incorrect McCain answer to Iraq question

John McCain, responding to a question from Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News, got a critical timeline in the Iraq occupation completely wrong. The first mention I saw of it was on Countdown. Olbermann pointed out the difference between McCain's answer in the interview transcript (on the CBS website) and his answer in the interview as it aired.

Now, the Jed Report has put the original video of the interview side-by-side with the portion that aired, bookended by the segments from Countdown. The juxtaposition is shocking.



It is not as though CBS simply deleted a question and answer that cast McCain in a negative light. That would be bad enough.

In this case, CBS News actually inserted an answer to a different question (which just happened to constitute the McCain campaign's vicious attack line of the day), to cover up the fact that McCain got wrong a fundamental historical fact of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. This is nothing less than bad faith - an actual attempt to defraud the viewers of CBS News.

All this on a day that McCain sought to promote a narrative that the media are giving an unfair advantage to Barack Obama.

CBS News must explain this inexcusable breach of journalistic ethics.

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