Moore doch ein Mann der Verschwörung?
18.07.2007 um 16:27
Hab jetzt weder die Zeit noch die Lust, das alles zu übersetzen, aber wen esinteressiert, der wird sich die Mühe wohl machen...
Sent: Saturday, July14, 2007 3:49 AM
Subject: An Open Letter to CNN from Michael Moore
An OpenLetter to CNN from Michael Moore
7/14/07
Dear CNN,
Well, the week isover -- and still no apology, no retraction, no correction of your glaringmistakes.
I bet you thought my dust-up with Wolf Blitzer was just a cool ratingscoup, that you really wouldn't have to correct the false statements you made about"Sicko." I bet you thought I was just going to go quietly away.
Think again. I'mabout to become your worst nightmare. 'Cause I ain't ever going away. Not until you setthe record straight, and apologize to your viewers. "The Most Trusted Name in News?" Ithink it's safe to say you can retire that slogan.
You have an occasional segmentcalled "Keeping Them Honest." But who keeps you honest? After what the public saw withyour report on "Sicko," and how many inaccuracies that report contained, how can anyonebelieve anything you say on your network? In the old days, before the Internet, you couldget away with it. Your victims had no way to set the record straight, to show the viewershow you had misrepresented the truth. But now, we can post the truth -- and back it upwith evidence and facts -- on the web, for all to see. And boy, judging from the mailboth you and I have been receiving, the evidence I have posted on my site about your"Sicko" piece has led millions now to question your honesty.
I won't waste yourtime rehashing your errors. You know what they are. What I want to do is help you comeclean. Admit you were wrong. What is the shame in that? We all make mistakes. I know it'shard to admit it when you've screwed up, but it's also liberating and cathartic. It notonly makes you a better person, it helps prevent you from screwing up again. Imagine howmany people will be drawn to a network that says, "We made a mistake. We're human. We'resorry. We will make mistakes in the future -- but we will always correct them so that youknow you can trust us." Now, how hard would that really be?
As you know, I hold nopersonal animosity against you or any of your staff. You and your parent company havebeen very good to me over the years. You distributed my first film, "Roger & Me" and youpublished "Dude, Where's My Country?" Larry King has had me on twice in the last twoweeks. I couldn't ask for better treatment.
That's why I was so stunned when youlet a doctor who knows a lot about brain surgery -- but apparently very little aboutpublic policy -- do a "fact check" story, not on the medical issues in "Sicko," butrather on the economic and political information in the film. Is this why there has beena delay in your apology, because you are trying to get a DOCTOR to say he was wrong?Please tell him not to worry, no one is filing a malpractice claim against him. Dr. Guptadoes excellent and compassionate stories on CNN about people's health and how we can takebetter care of ourselves. But when it came time to discuss universal health care, herushed together a bunch of sloppy -- and old -- research. When his producer called usabout his report the day before it aired, we sent to her, in an email, all the evidenceso that he wouldn't make any mistakes on air. He chose to ignore ALL the evidence, andran with all his falsehoods -- even though he had been given the facts a full day before!How could that happen? And now, for 5 days, I have posted on my website, for all to see,every mistake and error he made.
You, on the other hand, in the face of thisoverwhelming evidence and a huge public backlash, have chosen to remain silent, probablypraying and hoping this will all go away.
Well it isn't. We are now going to startlooking into the veracity of other reports you have aired on other topics. Nothing yousay now can be believed. In 2002, the New York Times busted you for bringing celebritieson your shows and not telling your viewers they were paid spokespeople for thepharmaceutical companies. You promised never to do it again. But there you were, in 2005,talking to Joe Theismann, on air, as he pushed some drug company-sponsored website onprostate health. You said nothing about about his affiliation withGlaxoSmithKline.
Clearly, no one is keeping you honest, so I guess I'm going tohave to do that job, too. $1.5 billion is spent each year by the drug companies on ads onCNN and the other four networks. I'm sure that has nothing to do with any of this. Afterall, if someone gave me $1.5 billion, I have to admit, I might say a kind word or twoabout them. Who wouldn't?!
I expect CNN to put this matter to rest. Say you'resorry and correct your story -- like any good journalist would.
Then we can getback to more important things. Like a REAL discussion about our broken health caresystem. Everything else is a distraction from what reallymatters.
Yours,
MichaelMoore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com
P.S. If you also want toapologize for not doing your job at the start of the Iraq War, I'm sure most Americanswould be very happy to accept your apology. You and the other networks were willingpartners with Bush, flying flags all over the TV screens and never asking the hardquestions that you should have asked. You might have prevented a war. You might havesaved the lives of those 3,610 soldiers who are no longer with us. Instead, you blew airkisses at a commander in chief who clearly was making it all up. Millions of us knew that-- why didn't you? I think you did. And, in my opinion, that makes you responsible forthis war. Instead of doing the job the founding fathers wanted you to do -- keeping thosein power honest (that's why they made it the FIRST amendment) -- you and much of themedia went on the attack against the few public figures like myself who dared to questionthe nightmare we were about to enter. You've never thanked me or the Dixie Chicks or AlGore for doing your job for you. That's OK. Just tell the truth from this point on.
