CNN decided to not to break away from its almost non-stop coverage of the California wildfires as President Bush formally awarded a Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan the Medal of Honor, as its competitors Fox News and MSNBC aired the ceremony at the White House live.
The Medal of Honor went to Lt. Michael Murphy of Patchogue, New York, who died in the line of duty in 2005 during operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Murphy received the first Medal of Honor awarded from Operation Enduring Freedom. President Bush made the decision to give Lt. Murphy the nation’s highest military honor on October 11.
The ceremony started at 2:23 pm Eastern, and both of CNN’s rivals carried President Bush’s remarks, as well as the presentation of the medal to the deceased SEAL’s parents. It wasn’t until 2:43 pm Eastern, eight minutes after its rival networks concluded its live coverage of the award ceremony, that CNN aired a 3-minute long segment featuring some of President Bush’s remarks and a story by CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr on the 2005 battle in which Lt. Murphy was killed.
Earlier this month, there were other prominent mainstream media omissions of this story. After the October 11 announcement of the award, every major New York newspaper published stories on the citation except the New York Times. It took until October 16 for any of the ‘Big Three’ network news broadcasts to recognize Lt. Murphy.
—Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
Editor
Comments Policy
Darn! I missed this. Any
October 22, 2007 - 15:31 ET by drillanwrDarn! I missed this.
Any chance a link might available to the video?
drill... I am sure there
October 22, 2007 - 15:36 ET by bigtimerdrill...
I am sure there will be links to it...I missed it also.
I do know that if this was in the WH this will be replayed on C-SPAN most likely more than once....plus they will have a link somewhere on their site too.
Finding one now on
October 22, 2007 - 16:57 ET by drillanwrFinding one now on FoxNews.com ...
http://www.foxnews.com/video2/player06.html?102107/102107_shawn_pkg1&FNL&Navy%20SEAL%20honored%20posthumously&acc&US&-1&News&212&&&new
Ah, sorry .. The link is to Fox's story about Lt. Michael Murphy, and NOT today's medal ceremony.
CNN...Communist News
October 22, 2007 - 15:34 ET by bigtimerCNN...Communist News Network or Clintoon News Network, either one is the same difference....they are just disgraceful....period.
Miracle msnbc covered the ceremony...must of slipped up.
God Bless Lt. Michael Murphy and his family and all the military past and present.
Evidence
October 22, 2007 - 15:36 ET by Jerry MackMore evidence that "We support the troops, but not the war" is B.S.
I'm glad FoxNews finally
October 22, 2007 - 15:41 ET by Chris NormanI'm glad FoxNews finally broke away from the S Cal fires to report something like this. I've noticed that on Sundays, especially, Fox has a tendency to go wall to wall coverage on a single event - even if it's the same pictures and information, over and over again.
GMA
October 22, 2007 - 15:39 ET by SarahAnnieI usually watch Good Morning America in the mornings (no cable), but sometimes I miss a bit when I put on a video for the daughter. I might have missed GMA saying anything about Lt. Murphy being a posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor. But seeing as how today was the ceremony, I was anxious to see if Diane or Chris would report it. The answer is NO. They had a little blurb on the bottom of the screen about it. And instead of devoting a fraction of their reporting time for this monumentous occasion, I saw a model fall through a hole in a catwalk, some aging hippie in HI, and a doggie fashion show. I emailed to express my disgust with their 'journalism'.
Nebraskans for War: Peace through Strength
Normally,
October 22, 2007 - 15:44 ET by ChaitealoverNormally, I would agree that CNN was wrong, but this time my perspective is different because I'm one of the 250,000 San Diegans that have been evacuated due to the fires and the accompanying smoke that is running down the canyons all the way to the ocean. Yes, our local stations are doing wall-to-wall coverage, but many of us here have friends/family in LA and Orange County & want all the information we can get about their safety, too.
"Our people have shed more blood for the liberty and freedom of other peoples...than all the other countries put together. And I don't feel any need to apologize for the United States of America" - Fred Thompson
Methinks CNN would have
October 22, 2007 - 15:55 ET by kevcadMethinks CNN would have definitely carried it live back in the Clinton years.
Start each day with a smile, then get it over with. - W.C. Fields
CNN just following the NY
October 22, 2007 - 16:14 ET by jwm45CNN just following the NY Times' template - they put the story in their New York Regional Section not the World or US Section - in other words it's just a local story. They both are awful. Pandering to their anti-military audiences