If you watched Countdown with Keith Olbermann tonight, you may have already heard about this:
CBS11 and Jay Gormley clearly have made an egregious error in reporting that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright branded Texas Christian University a "Godless Christian college" during his Sunday guest sermon at Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas.
Instead, the videotape that the station used as evidence during Monday's 10 p.m. newscast shows that Wright actually said "Jarvis Christian College," which is a predominantly black institution located in Hawkins, TX.
In his prominently played story, though, which since has been removed from CBS11's Web site, Gormley told viewers that the already controversial Wright "appeared to take a potshot at TCU."
He then went on to interview supposedly "outraged" TCU students, one of whom said, "How can you call people Godless if you don't know them? You know what I mean, like blanketing TCU as a Godless Christian University is just absolutely ridiculous."
Another student said in part, "We'll take the higher ground."
[...] Gormley also said during his report that Wright's "jab at TCU may have been in response to the university's decision to move an event by Brite Divinity School off campus."
Now, to you, me, Ed Bark, and anybody else who actually listened to what Jeremiah Wright said without their head inserted firmly up their own ass, it was clear that Wright said the following:
"Rape takes place not just on dates . . . not just in college -- Texas Christian University, Jarvis Christian College. Rape also takes place in marriage."
"Godless Christian college" doesn't even make sense in the context of the remark, but then, if you're not really paying attention in the first place, little things like context tend to get missed. What I want to know is, how could this possibly have gotten past not just Gormley, but everyone else who had to have reviewed the video before it was aired on CBS11?
And what makes things worse is how the station chose to handle its error, issuing what they called a "clarification" without mentioning the erroneous allegation that the station made about Wright, or telling viewers what Wright actually said. Instead, they just read this lame-assed apology:
"Upon further review of the tape of the speech, we were mistaken. We regret the error and offer our sincere apologies to Reverend Wright, Friendship West Baptist Church, TCU and our viewers."
That's it. After misreporting Wright's words to assert that he had said something highly inflammatory about TCU, and after accusing him of making such a statement as retaliation against TCU for moving his speech off campus, and after whipping up a bunch of outrage among TCU students to get soundbites for its story, CBS 11 gives its viewers a watered-down apology and no context whatsoever.
Jay Gormley should lose his job over this, and so should anyone else who had a hand in airing this story. And the station should do a better job of owning up to its error.
Recent Comments