| Topic Name: |
Most trusted name in news? Not CNN |
| Message Name: |
Full of It |
| Date Posted: |
05/22/2005 |
| In Reply To: |
http://www.aim.org/aim_report/3649_0_4_0_C/
AIM Report: CNN's George Soros-gate -
May 21, 2005
Clear and convincing evidence indicates that billionaire money manipulator and anti-conservative activist George Soros provided financing for research on a CNN documentary.
Soros, a convicted insider trader who spent $23 million to defeat President Bush for re-election, not only had a role in underwriting the research that went into the program, but CNN promoted his agenda of ending incarceration for dangerous criminals.
The program, "Reasonable Doubt: Can Crime Labs be Trusted?," which CNN aired several times last January as a "CNN Presents" documentary, was prepared in cooperation with the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) and hosted by Aaron Brown.
In its own account of its role in the show, CIR acknowledged that "Funding for this investigation was provided in part by a 2003 Soros Justice Media Fellowship awarded to Robin Mejia by the Open Society Institute, and by a grant to CIR from the Ford Foundation and CIR's Investigative Venture Fund."
The Soros Open Society Institute (OSI) reported that the CNN program was "based on the reporting" of "Soros Justice Media Fellow Robin Mejia." The OSI said that the CNN show was the "culmination of more than a year of investigation by Ken Shiffman (CNN) and 2003 Soros Justice Media Fellow Robin Mejia."
But the program itself did not disclose to viewers any role played by Soros or his institute. It also did not reveal that the program promoted his political agenda.
CNN President Jonathan Klein gave an April 19 speech to the National Association of Broadcasters saying that CNN is "the most trusted source of news on television."
But how can you trust a network that doesn't acknowledge the clear evidence of the role played by a Soros-funded journalist in preparing its documentary?
Mejia told AIM that the fellowship was awarded in 2002 and she did her research in 2003. She said that she solicited funds from the OSI by promising to conduct research into the problems of forensic science and how they lead to wrongful convictions. That was the theme of the CNN show.
Mejia, identified at the end of the show only as a "producer/reporter" and "writer," acknowledged receiving $45,000 from the OSI. Clearly, the CIR and OSI saw this as relevant to the CNN show. But it wasn't mentioned by CNN.
AIM was alerted to the CNN "Reasonable Doubt" program by people shocked that CNN would air such a one-sided show and conceal the role of a Soros operative in researching it.
The CNN website said, "A joint investigation by CNN and the Center for Investigative Reporting examines the lack of standards, quality controls and training at many of the nation's forensic laboratories and raises serious doubts about some forensic scientists."
The program left the impression that people were being wrongly incarcerated for rape and murder because of problems in crime labs relating to forensic evidence. But one analyst told AIM, "The truth is that, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, less than half of all murders end with a murder conviction. Once convicted, the average sentence served for murder is 13 years. While some people may be wrongly incarcerated, the most serious problem is that society is not protected from the large number of violent criminals who are never prosecuted or who serve light sentences." But that was left out of the program because it is not part of the Soros agenda.
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| Message: |
Your citing a "report" from a conservative newsrag. Your full of it.
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