Calls for accountability for Headline News anchor

August 15, 2006

To follow up on an item from the weekend, [tag]CNN[/tag] [tag]Headline News[/tag] anchor [tag]Chuck Roberts[/tag] was discussing the political implications of last week’s thwarted terrorist plot with Hotline senior editor John Mercurio on Friday. Roberts asked Mercurio, “How does this factor into the Lieberman/Lamont contest? And might some argue, as some have, that [tag]Lamont[/tag] is the [tag]al Qaeda[/tag] [tag]candidate[/tag]?”

The remark has prompted more than just blog complaints. [tag]Arianna Huffington[/tag] is pushing CNN to “hold Chuck Roberts accountable.” CNN’s Howard Kurtz noted Sunday that “Roberts said, according to the transcript, was that some are calling Ned Lamont the al Qaeda candidate,” prompting Huffington to conduct exhaustive search that found that the only person who has called Lamont “the Al Qaeda candidate” is Chuck Roberts.

Yesterday, Media Matters spoke out as well in a letter too CNN President Jonathan Klein and Headline News General Manager Rolando Santos.

One expects to hear this kind of hyperbolic rhetoric — which also perfectly plays into the Republican Party’s baseless smears of Democrats as soft on national security — coming from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, or Michael Savage. CNN, however, is supposed to be a legitimate news organization.

Mr. Roberts might have a defense if it were actually the case that people were calling Mr. Lamont “the Al Qaeda candidate.” But as Arianna Huffington pointed out on CNN’s own Reliable Sources yesterday, the smear appears to be entirely the creation of Mr. Roberts. We note that Mr. Lamont’s opposition to the Iraq war is shared by a majority of the American people; we hope it is not common practice among CNN anchors to refer to most Americans as Al Qaeda sympathizers.

[tag]Media Matters[/tag] asked how CNN will respond to the incident, and whether a retraction and/or on-air apology will be forthcoming.

I’m not expecting much, but I’m glad to see CNN and Roberts face some heat over this.

Update: Roberts delivered a classy, forthcoming apology to Lamont directly this afternoon. Good move.

“CNN, however, is supposed to be a legitimate news organization.”

That was then, this is now. Arrivederci, CNN.

  • What surprises me is that they morons even have the gall to suggest they know who al Qaeda ‘wants’. A far better argument could be made that Boy George II, with his useless war in Iraq and failing war in Afghanistan, is far more the ‘candidate of al Qaeda’ than Lamont every would be.

    These guys have NO IDEA what al Qaeda wants. They’ve been confused since day one, and they are confused now.

  • CNN Headline News features a prime time line-up of Nancy Grace and Glenn Beck, and this is the first publicity the network has had since changing its format years ago. I suspect Roberts is a hero around the office, even if they do make him issue a boilerplate “my bad.”

  • CNN = Clueless Nonsense Network

    Once again, right-wing projection. Big time.

    For those who would really like to know who alQaeda likes to see in power, all you have to do is read what they’ve said. They LOVE to see us pissing away our military options in Iraq. Pissing away our international credibility. Pissing away our financial might. And most importantly, pissing off the moderate muslims so they’ll understand why alQaeda does what it does. The longer we stay there, the less able we’ll be to actually go after them. Soon more Americans will have died in Iraq than on 9/11. Many, many more are permanently disabled. Lieberman and his neocon buddies have done more of alQaeda’s work than alQaeda.

  • THE FUCKING AL-QAEDA CANDIDATE??????? OMFG…… can you believe this asshole actually can be called a journalist? Pravda and Al Jazeera wouldn’t stoop this low, click on the links and see for yourself. Fox spews presenting this bullshit is one thing, but (CNN) Clinton News Network as it used to be called? And the sheeple listen and line up like the good, compliant proles that they are. The undeniable liberal couldn’t resist, and went and checked out Lush Bimbo’s site, and even HE didn’t have such low-down shit, but then again, it appears that he is on vacation. George Dumbya Bush remains the ultimate al Qaeda candidate…..there, i said it…and it is VERY true.

  • It’s simple—just start a campaign calling for “Chuckles the Clown” to be fired. The M$M (Million Dollar Meatheads) will not demonstrate any sense of ethics until their paychecks are threatened. They’ll just continue to play their version of “stay-the-course” with the knowledge that, regardless of whether they actually do any real work as “journalists,” they will continue to draw their obscene salaries.

    If the People can cost just one of these “nattering ninnyhammers” their position of employment, the others might just turn around—and do their freaking jobs for a change….

  • Aren’t we overreacting just a tad? Just because no one on The Right has physically mouthed/written the words “al Qaeda Candidate” in reference to Lamont, Cheney essentially said as much when he suggested last week that Lieberman’s loss would only serve to embolden “al Qaeda types”. At most, it seems that Roberts is guilty of ill-advised paraphrasing. Blame for the original concept rests squarely with the Administration’s penchant for fear-mongering.

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