It's impossible to forget CNN's horrible decision to air video of a terrorist sniper shooting and killing American GI's in Iraq. That video, which aired on the October 18 edition of "Anderson Cooper 360," should have caused more of a ruckus than it did. But now, thanks to this morning's Des Moines Register, we get a reminder that CNN's actions are still having consequences--in the hearts and minds of the American people.
and if there'd been any justice--moral justice, as opposed to mere legal justice--Cooper and CNN would have skulked off the stage in shame. At the time, Reps. Duncan Hunter, Brian Bilbray, and Darrell Issa, all California Republicans spoke out: "CNN has now served as the publicist for an enemy propaganda film."
And without a doubt, CNN's reputation has been enduringly hurt among the people who are the best judges: Americans serving in Iraq. TCG just came across this blog posting, which identifies the American killed in the video. In the words of the "Firepower Forward" blogger, himself in the Army: "The victim was 2nd Lt. Joshua Booth from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines. Not only are his pregnant wife, child, and parents forced to come to terms with the death of this twenty-three year old Marine, but they now know his final moments and violent death has been gratuitously aired for the world to witness." To borrow a phrase, This is CNN.
The controversy faded after a while, but one man didn't just kvetch about CNN, he did something about that terror-coddling network. Jim Thompson, president of the Stoney Creek Inns, a lodge-themed chain in Iowa and the Midwest, made the decision to yank CNN from the TV menu of his hotels. And he has stuck to it, unapologetically. As Thompson told the Register, "I am not trying to be the moral police." But, Thompson continued, the segment "was violent, repulsive and unacceptable. There was no news content." So goodbye CNN. TCG respects Thompson's right to run his properties his way, even if I hav mixed feelings about yanking speech--and of course, TCG has no illusions as to what the p.c. and censorious Left would do if, say, Fox had run video of a black person being lynched.
However, what was most interesting, from a Cable Game point of view, was another quote from another hotelier quoted in the Register piece, Mike Whalen, who runs the Davenport-based Heart of America Restaurants and Inns. Whalen told reporter Patt Johnson that he didn't think that Thompson's decision to boot CNN from Stoney Creek would have much effect on Thompson's business. "I doubt his decision irritated too many people," Whalen said. "But if I took Fox off cable at my hotels, I'd probably lose money."
So that's the bottom line: Take down CNN, nothing bad happens. But take down Fox, and you lose, bigtime.
