CCO’s Misleading Reality Check
Posted by Andy on February 16th, 2006
Here is the Transcript from CCO’s Reality Check from last night. My earlier post.
(WCCO) Many viewers have sent WCCO-TV e-mails asking about an ad that’s getting a lot of time in Minnesota.
Walt from Lakeville wrote, “I am curious who the people are that are behind the ads that have been appearing lately which seem to endorse the war in Iraq.”
Mary wrote, “Please do a Reality Check on these ads right quick.”
Two? That is all it takes? Two?
The ad is a skillfully blended mix of war facts and war politics.
“The media only reports bad news,” the ad states.
This is NOT TRUE. Even the harshest media critics don’t say that.
One conservative study reports 61 percent of network news stories about Iraq were negative last fall. But that study didn’t include the 24-hour cable news channels.
What is CCO’s beef here? What if they didn’t include the 24 news chanels? Think adding CNN into the mix would make that better? What is CCO’s resource for claiming that the ad is wrong?
And a separate study of Sunday morning political talk shows reports the guests are mostly conservative — 58 percent of them — and critics of the Iraq war were largely absent.
Oh, so just Sunday talk shows are the basis for their study. (Anyone else suspect of that number? 58% are conservative? Think they asked conservatives if the people they considered as representing conservative thought were actually conservatives?
“You would never know it from the news reports, but our enemy in Iraq is al-Qaeda,” the ad states. “The same terrorists who killed 3,000 Americans on 9-11.”
This is very MISLEADING.
Oh, please explain all knowing military expert Pat Kessler.
First, the ad links images of 9-11 and al-Qaeda to Saddam Hussein and Iraq.
No it just played images of 9-11 and Iraq.
There’s no evidence, according to the 9-11 Commission, that there’s any real connection.
They did a piss poor job investigating it.
But America’s use of force in Iraq did spark a violent insurgency, and there’s evidence that al-Qaeda subsequently moved in there — responsible now for kidnappings, suicide bomb attacks and roadside explosions.
So our enemy in Iraq is al-Qaeda! The ad is NOT misleading.
“American troops overwhelmingly support the mission President Bush has given us,” the ad states.
This is PARTLY TRUE.
Support for the war in the military is higher than in the general public.
A widely used Military Times poll shows 56 percent of soldiers approve of going to war, and only 54 percent approve of Bush’s policy in Iraq now. Those poll numbers are declining.
Didn’t 75% of the military vote to re-elect Bush? And here is an article about how military personel preferred Bush 4 to 1 over Kerry. Kind of overwhelming if you ask me.
That’s NOT THE WHOLE STORY.
The ad was paid for by the Progress for America Voter Fund. It’s a conservative advocacy group with close ties to the Bush Administration, running issue ads much like the liberal group moveon.org.
So. Is this not a free country? Does CCO plan to do the same to the Liberals’ ads?
Right now, Minnesotans are a test audience, and this is the only state in the country where the ad is running.
That’s Reality Check.
The absolute bias of CCO is on full display here. Their anti-war personal views blead through to the news room, and affected their editorial judgement.
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February 19th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Thank you for pointing out that the enemies which our soldiers fight today are members of AL Qaeda. As the left attacks the Ad’s by Progress for America they seem to ignore the facts, but then again should anyone be surprised. It is about time that someone speaks up for all the good work the military is doing around the globe fighting a war with no borders.
February 19th, 2006 at 9:50 pm
This spill sounds exactly like what the Democratic party said after the ads began running - they must be reading the same leftist propaganda. These men are actual soldiers and their voices deserve to be heard. Further, we are fighting a very important mission in Iraq - one that we cannot give up at this point. I agree with the men in those ads - we must finish the job. This means leaving behind a country that is self-governing, can defend themselves, and are no longer a haven for terrorists.
February 20th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
It seems that as CCO complains about getting only half the story through these ads, they refute them with a one-sided and left-wing answer. Who can dispute the feelings of a true soldier who has come home to a country who is so busy criticizing the fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction that we forget to say thank you to our soldiers who have been fighting against exactly that - mass destruction - for the last three years. And I have to agree with the military men in these ads. I myself felt that we were not gaining much ground until the 256 of Louisiana came home and I spoke to the friends I had for so long had no contact with. They told me many stories of pumping water into villages that had never had running water and the spirit of the Iraqi people as they were given the freedom to vote and the power to participate in their own government. This message is a true and heart-felt one from the troops who have returned…and one that has been echoed in Louisiana the same way it has been said in Minnesota
February 20th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
What a surprise - another MN media outlet sees the accomplishments of our troops as propaganda:
http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2006/02/17/67209
If I only knew about what was happening in Iraq via media like CCO or the Minnesota Daily I would think the only thing happening was journalists being kidnapped and roadside bombings. But thanks to PFA, our brave soldiers have a voice. These are the Americans who are helping train Iraqi police officers, opening schools for Iraqi children and revealing to all Iraqis a better and more peaceful way to live.