SHAME ON CNN FOR FORCING JESSICA YELLIN TO CHANGE HER STORY

DID YOU SEE THIS:

CNN's Jessica Yellin's turnabout statement taking the blame off her former employer, which was thought in this space to be ABC News and Yellin says was MSNBC. At any rate, here's her new statement:

J

essica Yellin
Congressional Correspondent

I find myself in an interesting position. Today the blogs lit up with comments I made last night on AC360° and suddenly I’m being reported on.

It’s not the most comfortable position for a reporter.

So let me clarify what I said and what I experienced.

First, this involved my time on MSNBC where I worked during the lead up to war. I worked as a segment producer, overnight anchor, field reporter, and briefly covered the White House, the Pentagon, and general Washington stories.

Also, let me say: No, senior corporate leadership never asked me to take out a line in a script or re-write an anchor intro. I did not mean to leave the impression that corporate executives were interfering in my daily work; my interaction was with senior producers. What was clear to me is that many people running the broadcasts wanted coverage that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the country at the time. It was clear to me they wanted their coverage to reflect the mood of the country.

And now I’m going back to work covering the Puerto Rico primary from San Juan.

All I can say is SHAME ON CNN for having Yellin make this statement. I seriously doubt she did this on her own. But now the cat's out of the bag and the emperor wears no clothes at all. It's sad to see CNN try to restore it's reputation. Good luck there.

CNN's Jessica Yellin Blames ABC News Execs For "Fixing" President Bush Coverage

One major casualty of the release of the book by former White House Press Secretary Scott McCllellan was the White House Press Corp and ABC News (so far).

CNN's Jessica Yellin, who was employed by CNN during the initial years of the Iraq War, dropped a bomb of her own on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, when she revealed that her news was "fixed" -- my term -- by ABC News execs, who killed negative Bush stories and generally made her feel pressured to make positive stories about President Bush while his approval ratings were high.

Yellin says so in this video:



Charlie Gibson, the host of Good Morning America, essentially but unknowingly confirmed Yellin when he said this:

I think the questions were asked. I respectfully disagree with the gentle lady from the Columbia Broadcasting System [group giggles]. I think the questions were asked. . . . I can remember getting in trouble with administration officials for asking questions they didn't feel comfortable with.
It was just a drumbeat of support from the administration. And it is not our job to debate them; it's our job to ask the questions.

This bit of a revelation is damaging to the overall credibility of the mainstream media and calls into question the state of American Media. It may very well be that we've been the victims of fixed news coverage all along and are entering a new era of telling the actual story via new media. But for the present I think Yellin's revelations are stunning and I'm not sure what the fallout will be, but I do think the FCC should look into this ASAP. It seems Noam Chomsky was right after all.