Getting the Word Out

Lynn Cheney on CNN:

CHENEY: Right, but what is CNN doing? Running terrorist tape of terrorists shooting Americans. I mean, I thought [Rep.] Duncan Hunter asked you a very good question, and you didn’t answer it. Do you want us to win?

WOLF: The answer of course is we want the United States to win. We are Americans. There’s no doubt about that.

CHENEY: Then why are you running terrorist propaganda?

WOLF: With all due respect, this is not terrorist propaganda.

With all due respect, it is terrorist propaganda. That's not my opinion, it's CNN's. Short version of the story: The video was produced according to a well defined and published plan, and CNN's own description of the method by which they received it describes exactly how they followed that plan. Furthermore, CNN's own report acknowledges their awareness of the terrorist propaganda plan.

For the long version, with details, first read this, then this, and finally this.

This week, Reuters reported on what we've been doing here at Mudville for the past week:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As U.S. military losses mount steadily in Iraq, a document issued by a group linked to al Qaeda spells out new goals for America's most determined enemies and calls for a media war against the United States.

The document, which began circulating on the Internet this month, illustrates the techniques Washington's enemy is using in what President George W. Bush has called the "war of ideas."

...the call in the document for a parallel media war traveled from the Internet to a mention in a New York Times column, the White House briefing room and eventually Bush himself.

With a brief stop at CNN along the way. (And to think it all began right here...) Reuters doesn't give us our due credit, of course. But it's nice to see Lynn Cheney knows the score.

Hopefully you do too.

Update: Let's have a bit more...

Mrs. Cheney: “Where did you get the film?”

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “We got the film, look, this is an issue that has been widely discussed. This is an issue that we reported on extensively. We make no apologies for showing that. That was a very carefully-considered decision why we did that. And I think, I think …”

Mrs. Cheney: “Well I think it’s shocking.”

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “If you are a serious journalist, you want to report the news. Sometimes the news is good, sometimes the news isn’t so good.”

Mrs. Cheney: “But Wolf, there’s a difference between news and terrorist propaganda.”