When Sensationalism Meets Stone Cold Reality

(Hat Tip Michelle Malkin via Mark Finkelstein)

Mark Finkelstein at Newsbusters has the MSM gotcha of perhaps the decade. I realize there is still close to half of the decade left, but this is that good. Trust me! Click the screen shot to view the evidence:


Finkelstein notes the irony and unfortunate timing of the segment:

In a deliciously ironic twist of fate, shortly before airing a segment
aimed at embarrassing the Bush administration by suggesting that it had staged a
video conversation between the president and soldiers in Iraq, the Today show
was caught staging . . . a video stunt.

Of course, the circle would not be complete without the required (and lame) attempt at damage control by NBC News:

Later, an NBC News spokeswoman explained that Kosinski had been riding in
deeper water near an overflowing river down the street, but there were concerns
that the current was too strong for her.

"It's not like we were trying to pass it off as something it wasn't,"
spokeswoman Lauren Kapp said.

Of cooourse you weren't! I'm sure you had absolutely no intention of making people think it was time, once again, to start building the ark. That would just be wrong!

I'm going to go out on a very stout limb here and say that I would be willing to bet that if it weren't for my two newest heros walking through the shot, the water would have been ten feet deep and rising fast.

You've really gotta hate it when you lose this much credibility in less than a foot of water!

Tags:Michelle Kosinski,Today Show,Matt Lauer, Katie Couric,NBC

UPDATE: Don Surber has a great post here with links to tons of folks covering the story.

The Money Quote:

That's it. A couple of NCOs and the like get to meet the Man himself. They
try not to muck it up. And the press goes to town with this as a "staged"
event.That is just plain wrong. Knock the president for what he does, but quit
making stuff up. And certainly watch the collateral damage on our own soldiers.
They wanted to make a good impression on the boss is all.

Read the whole thing.

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Thanks to: Conservative Cat's Permanent Floating Ping Festival