|
 < back to articles Autopsy
of an Anderson Cooper Script
When a newscaster says an event is "happening right now," what does that mean? You guessed it: it depends on the meaning of happening and now, right? Happening right now is a happening phrase at CNN, and a newscast that uses the phrase happens to be "Anderson Cooper 360º." Cooper, the anchor, is quoted in CNN ads saying, "Find the facts, find the truth." So let's. Near the top of Cooper's 10 p.m. newscast Wednesday, Nov. 16, he said: "But first, here's what's happening right now: "President Bush is in South Korea. He's meeting with the country's president. They are about to have a joint press conference...." Right after Cooper said that, a South Korean news agency, Yonhap, moved a story—at 10:03 p.m., EST—saying the two presidents had already held a one-hour meeting. Was Cooper correct? Maybe, but too close to call. The two presidents' news conference was scheduled to start at 10:15 p.m., EST, so when Cooper said it was about to start, he was correct. (I was taught to call it a news conference lest listeners think a press conference is limited to the print press.) The script's second sentence was neither news nor newsy. Is doesn't express action; it just is. More important, President Bush had already been in South Korea about 17 hours: CNN had reported his arrival on its 5 a.m. newscast. Also at 10 o'clock that night, Cooper broadcast this extended headline under the umbrella of happening right now: "Tonight, another journalist is coming forward to say he was tipped off about the identity of C-I-A officer Valerie Plame. Bob Woodward says an unnamed Bush administration official told him about Plame a month before she was publicly identified. The Washington Post editor says his source was not Lewis Scooter Libby, the former vice president's chief of staff, now indicted for the leak." Three defects in that script: 1) Libby was not indicted for the leak. His indictment charges perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with the leak. (CNN calls itself "the most trusted name in news." And Cooper says in full-page ads, "We want to bring you information accurately....") 2) Libby was not the former vice president's chief of staff. Cheney is not a former. Libby is Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff. 3) The AP moved the story about Woodward at 12:11 a.m., Wednesday, almost 22 hours before Cooper said Woodward is coming forward. Even earlier, that morning's Washington Post, usually available before midnight, had run the Woodward story on P. 1. And Woodward himself had released a statement Tuesday night disclosing that he had testified the previous day that a high administration official gave him the name of the CIA agent a month before she was publicly identified. At 5 a.m., Wednesday, and throughout the day, CNN reported the story. So Cooper's saying that tonight Woodward is coming forward was misleading. Next, Cooper said: "At this hour, the Pentagon is denying accusations that U-S troops deliberately burned Iraqi civilians with a weapon called white phosphorus. That charge is coming from an Italian report [a questionable TV documentary] saying the incendiary shells targeted civilians [shells don't target people; people target people] in Fallujah last year. The Pentagon insists, that is simply not true but admits to using [better: acknowledges using] the weapon on insurgents." At this hour? Twenty-nine hours earlier, at 5 p.m., Tuesday, AFP (Agence France-Presse) reported the charge and the Pentagon's denial. Also, at 7:05 p.m., Tuesday, the AP moved a story with the denial. And at 4 p.m., Wednesday, CNN broadcast the story, along with the denial. Later in his broadcast, Cooper said: "It would be easy to say that the Pentagon denies doing any such thing. The fact is, the Pentagon does deny the charge, but there's nothing easy about these allegations." Huh? Cooper might have thought his earlier use of at this hour lacked sufficient urgency, so when he introduced the Pentagon story at 11 p.m., in the second hour of his newscast, he said, "At this moment, the Pentagon pushes back on an allegation that U-S troops used a fire-producing chemical [white phosphorus] on civilians in Fallujah last year...." At this moment? At that hour? Also: What does pushes back on an allegation mean? I had never run across that verb. So I visited onelook.com and entered push back on. Not one of 65+ dictionaries and encyclopedias listed it. Next: Google. The examples I found used it to mean resists or fights back. But I doubt that's what the Pentagon was doing. In any case, a listener shouldn't need to conduct a search. The last headline the anchor delivered near the top of the 10 p.m. newscast: "And tonight we learned that five more U-S troops died in Iraq today...." Tonight we learned? In fact, CNN reported four of those deaths at 10 a.m., and at 1 p.m. reported all five deaths That was nine hours before Cooper said at 10 p.m., we learned of them tonight. At this moment, I've heard enough. Tonight we learned they need to learn a lot more. Happening right now: Phony baloney. All in all: Too many faults, too much false. Reprinted by permission from Mervin's Block's website www.mervinblock.com. © Mervin Block 2006 |
