CNN Reporter Doesn't Know The Difference Between A Legitimate Question & Heckling, Defends McCain. Again.
By Nicole Belle Saturday Apr 05, 2008 12:45pm
It is such an indictment on the pathetic notions of journalism from a journalist--especially when it comes to dealing with media darling John McCain--that CNN reporter Jim Acosta can't even recognize a legitimate question being asked of a presidential candidate and characterized it as being under fire from a heckler. Many thanks to C&Ler Jerald, who caught this little tidbit during the interminable "CNN's Ballot Bowl" this weekend for us.
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Download | play (h/t Heather)
At an appearance at an Episcopal high school in Alexandria, Virginia during his Biography tour, a student calmly and rationally pointed out the rather obvious political overtones to the assembly (despite it not being portrayed as such to the student body, evidently) and asked what McCain's intent was being at her school. Oooh! That's so harsh! The nerve of that student! Rush her to Gitmo now! Seriously, to Jim Acosta, that's heckling.
ACOSTA: But it was earlier this week in Alexandria, Virginia, where he [McCain] visited a high school—a uh, high school…Episcopal high school in Alexandria, Virginia--where apparently a student there started heckling the Senator and John McCain then had to respond. So here is John McCain responding to what appears to be a student heckler earlier this week in Alexandria, Virginia:
STUDENT: We can see that this isn't completely absent, uh, political motivation isn't completely absent, yet we were told this isn't a political event. So, what exactly is your purpose in being here, not that I don't appreciate the opportunity, but I'd just like some clarification.
MCCAIN: I knew I should have cut this thing off. [laughter] This meeting is over. [laughter] Um, this is an opportunity and part of a series of visits that I'm playing...paying...we started in Mississippi, uh, where my family's roots are back to the middle of the 19th century, to here. We're going from here to Pensacola, Florida, to Jacksonville, Florida, and a couple of other places where...we're going to Annapolis, where I obviously attended the Naval Academy. And it's sort of a tour where we try to not only emphasize the values and principles that guided me and I think a lot of this country in the past, but also portray a vision of how I think we need to address the challenges of the future, and a lot of that is in retrospect, but a lot of it is also advocacy and addressing certain challenges that face the nation. I hope that attendance here was not compulsory.
ACOSTA: So there you have it, John McCain, who is no stranger to incoming fire, able to handle that heckler there...
Dude, did you just liken that question to being in a combat zone? Hang it up, Acosta. You're just an embarrassment now.
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I love it when they spin what they've just shown and ask "Who are you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes?"
That girl has more guts and better journalistic integrity than Acosta does.
That was heckling??? Acosta's a fucking idiot and should be working over at Faux News! He probably resented the fact that the student was actually doing a better job at journalism than he and his idiot coleagues seem capable of doing these days!
Why doesn't Acosta just kiss McCain's butt? How pathetic! Questioning the motives of a teenage girl? What a shill! What the Hell?
These "journalists" are buried really high up McCain's behind.
It's going to be a long summer people. With coverage like this, I think i'll drink some Draino!
Acosta should have been there to tell the audience: "Look, you can only ask McCain how he projects such a macho image, and then fawn all over him when he pulls his Rambo impersonation."
One of the best questions ecar, and it's called heckling, well we need a national heckling corps maybe we can change the forth estate to the Heckler estate.
P.D. @ 6:
Isn't Draino a Florida Republican birth control method?
John McCain is facing a major health care crisis. Not so much his own, though unanswered questions abound about the Republican presidential nominee's bouts with skin cancer. No, as the Boston Globe details, it is the feeble McCain health care plan itself which is terminally flawed.
For the details, see:
"John McCain's Health Care Crisis."
What a f**ing joke!
"Heckler"? "No stranger to incoming fire". Seriously are you a journalist or McCains hagiographer?
ChrisM70 @ 2:
Hear hear
McCain's hagiographer. Hmmm, I like that! St. McCain's hagiographer...
This characterization of the girl as a "heckler" is so over the line that Mr. Acosta cannot claim to be a journalist. Obviously the girl was not "heckling"---she was handed the microphone which she handed back when she asked her question. And her question was legitimate---this is obviously a political event and attendance was mandatory for the students.
When a reporter regards any remotely unpleasant question, regardless of how legitimate and politely asked, as "heckling" then there is no hope for any journalistic integrity from that reporter.
Yeah, Otay, and a glass of bleach! Sad, huh.
Something tells me that this "Rediscovery" Tour will wind up as a documentary featuring McCain as the all encompassing great leader of western values and virtues.
Heck it may even be produced by Ben Stein:
http://www.expelledexposed.com/
BALLOT BOWL ?????
Per Webster
Heckle: To disrupt a speaker with impertenant questions. To badger.
So asking McCain the reason for his visit was impertenant? That was badgering? Have a clue Acosta.
galmud @ 11:
I think the kid articulated the question too intelligently for the adults to understand so the adults resorted to name calling.
Our fourth estate should be reclassified the fifth wheel estate.
Wow. Caught him, didn't she? I don't know how anyone can possibly believe this little 'series of visits' has no political motivation. Let's see - it is an election year, he is the apparent Repub candidate, he is traveling and speaking to various groups about things like "values and principles" and our country "address(ing) the challenges of the future"... looks like a duck and quacks like a duck.
The fact a high school student respectfully makes this observation when it had never been mentioned in our media says a lot about the current state of that same media. Sad.
give the reporter credit, did you notice how articulate he spoke , even as McCains jissem was running down his lips , now thats talent
Boy the media sure does love McCain. Tune into any station and you get the story line of how great he is.
I am still asking. When will McCain release his and his wife's tax returns?
Plus, when will McCain release his health records?
What is he hiding?
Corruption? Cancer?
Heckler?
Does that mean someone spoke off-script?
So, There you have it. A CNN reporter, no stranger to the truth, doing a terrific job objectively informing the public.
Remember when the news was Reality TV?
I think maybe Acosta was responding to some producer talking in his earpiece, thus his use of the word "apparently" to describe the heckling. I don't think he'd seen it.
What a great question by the girl, and such a lame-ass answer. Did you notice the Freudian slip when he said "playing" instead of "paying" visits which ended up really answering the girls question is spite of his rambling bullshit.
John McCain, who is no stranger to incoming fire,
Yes- he dodged that question like a pro.
Plus it was mandatory for student to attend is the last I heard.
I'm looking on the CNN website now for how to contact the "Ballot Bowl" producers and tell them what I think of Jim Acosta calling the questioner a "heckler" and demanding he make an on-air apology. Any help here?
That intelligent young woman's question would never have made it onto the screen if she hadn't been...what do you call it?... "heckling."
Someone should heckle Jim Acosta for about six straight months so he can get an idea of what the word means. How do people like this get to be national reporters?
Damned liberal media.
Did CNN use the title "Ballot Bowl" before Obama's much televised attempts at bowling?
Or is this title supposed to carry the subliminal message that Obama can't compete?
Like "Bowling for Ballots" .. and Obama loses ..
Even without the Obama angle it's a horrendous title for Election Coverage.
Ballot Bowl
In addition to republishing what people like Acosta report — as in sort of letting the donkey bray — and letting them demonstrate their own foolishness, why don't we actually treat them like subjects who deserve coverage? I mean, call them up, interview them, question them about what they just said or did?
"Mr. Acosta, this is John Hawk, I'm a reporter with the Masonviile Jar. In reporting about a person who asked a question at a McCain event in Alexendria, you characterized the person as a heckler. Why was that?"
"Well, John was it? I wasn't there, but someone told me he was heckling McCain. I viewed the footage."
"You weren't there?"
"Well, no. I mean I was there, but didn't hear what the guy actually said. I just viewed the footage. That's why I was careful to say 'apparently' a student there."
"Do you know if it was a man or a woman?"
"Well I understand it was apparently a student."
"No, I mean, was the questioner a man or a woman?
"What difference does that make? He or she was starting to heckle?"
:"You say 'starting' to heckle. How long did the heckler heckle, do you know."
"Well, it may have been an accusation or a question, I don't know, but the person definitely was challenging McCain, in a confrontational way."
"So you don't know if it was a man or a woman, one or more questions, the beginning of a series of heckles or just one, and you didn't actually hear the question, right?
"No that's not true. It was a heckler."
"What isn't true?
"Whatever you're saying I said."
"What is your basis for referring to the person in Alexandria as 'apparently' a student who 'started heckling?' Why use the word 'heckle?'"
"Look, heckle, question, whatever. If you'd been there, you'd know. Look, I don't have time for these kinds of questions. Are you through, because i really do have to go."
Click.
I, like McCrazy.........................................................this is a trick comment......................................am a citizen of a fascist corporate run quasi country.
He attended the Naval Acadamy?
Oh yeah..Thats when he graduated 2,986 out of 2,988 ... Those were his glory days...
Why aren't the reporters genuflecting? The messiah McCain has entered the building!
i'm still waiting for the "heckling" part....huh? that was IT??
he mcfeeble, you are a nasty old man!!!!!!!!!!
now that is heckling
why is mcbush getting such a pass from the press
If he used the word Heckle once it would be kind of stupid, but for him to repeat it not two but three times was laughable. It was like he was getting assaulted by a little girl and the screaming for help.
Yeah, cnn stinks. But then again, we all knew that.
That's just pathetic of Acosta. Well, you know teenagers can't possibly have anything serious to say, so the kid must have been a heckler.
Acosta, et. all in the media have to pump up McCain to keep up the false view of a neck-and-neck race with the (D) candidate. It's all about ratings, if McCain is seen as an increasingly senile flip-flopping hot head then CNN and all the other news networks won't have the level of ratings they want for the fall election season.
I agree. Not heckling. Personally, I see "heckling" tho, not so much as related to the content of the question, but the way it is delivered. If you shout and interrupt without a mic, it is heckling to me. Even if it is a "legitimate question." If you ask the same question while people expect you to ask a question, as in with a mic, or recognized by the speaker, then it is not "heckling." My take.
So young, and such an experienced press whore already.
This propaganda against the disorderly (in this case, a perceptive student) goes on every second of every day on the MSWM.
Here's what I'm sending to CNN's "feedback" page (wish me luck):
"Reporter Jim Acosta called a high-school girl a "heckler" because she asked John McCain an uncomfortable question. She was in no way a heckler, as the video shows. Mr. Acosta's characterization goes beyond slant to Orwellian Newspeak. "Ballot Bowl" owes this young lady (and whatever viewers it has left) an apology. On air."
It's fun commenting on the media here at C&L, but we need to do some complaining at the sources when they commit such outrages.
Now we have to treat John McCain with kid gloves? The medias bias is plain for all to see. When he was in Iraq and had to be rescued by Graham and Lieberman. Barely a blip on the MSM. Now, if it were a Democrat. . .
MountainMan23 @ 31:
They've been using it before Obama's bowling alley deal. CNN thinks that unless they put a sports spin on this somehow their audience won't be interested. Hence the 'bowl game' approach. Remember, this is America after all!
Personally, I just wish they would treat us as if we had a brain for once. I'm not holding my breath.
Darth_Romney @ 3:
I have to agree, in what free country would a straight forward, honest question be considered heckling!?! Kudos to McCain for handling it in the serious manner in whic it was asked, but in no way was he "handling a heckler".
Lest we forget, it was the media, people like Acosta who crowned Bush as king and pushed his election, and then closed their collective eyes to all the crap that Bush threw in the faces of the American people. But of course all we heard was about that evil "liberal media" which doesn't exist and can't with the likes of Acosta and his ilk who smother any real opposition to those they have crowned. They are doing it again with McCain and if he is elected we will get more crap thrown in our faces. If we allow that to happen then shame on us, and we deserve what we get.
its very understandable ACOSTA recieved extra helpings of potato salad and ribs at mccains lets get all the news whores together party and it wasnt enough that they all gave john a blow job now guys like acosta have to bend over and expose thier barbecue flavored butt plugs!
As I remember it, McCain was shot down by incoming fire. So I'd have to say he's no stranger to it, but he hasn't exactly had a history of walking away from it unscathed.
lol @ McCain's answer. its not political motivation. its a speaking tour, where he's visiting the places he used to kick it at when he was young, so he could explain to the youth how awesome he is and how they need to make sure to follow in his awesome footsteps. and he hopes attendance wasn't compulsory.
dude, so grandpa wants to rail away at the whippersnappers how awesome things were back in his day. and on a side note, of COURSE attendance was compulsory. even if the principal never said "everyone must attend" if they didn't attend they'd wind up sitting in the office and having stern offside conversations with the principal later. thats how bullshit high school conventions like that work. thats why the entire student body was there.
news flash McCain. most of them weren't listening to you. they were trying to hustle some weekend sex or quietly whispering out plans for small scale after school drug deals. wtf else are you supposed to do when you're a high schooler attending bullshit semi-mandatory assemblies where old guys in suits walk around talking into a mic?
John the Elder @ 47:
better yet! lets not forget these assholes shut out gravel kucinich , and edwards in the debates and ALLOWED you two corporate approved candidates like obama and clinton to vote for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I receive my "economic stimulus tax rebate" next month, I plan to donate every dollar to the most progressive candidates (national and local) that I can find, and probably to the ACLU too. The best way to stimulate this economy is to invest in the election of Democrats who will end Bush's tax cuts for his rich pals, and will create jobs through programs to rebuild our infrastructure, improve public education, and create alternative energy industries.
Who will join me?
She wasn't heckling- she was Acosta-ed.
They're actually trying to characterize John McCain's re-introductory tour as non-political? I guess they had to lie about something.
In other words, McCain's tour is just one huge FEC violation. Thanks Coddle News Network for some more pissant reporting.
Someone either lacks a command of the English language or assumes I do, and it isn't the high school girl.
HECKLER?!? What?
She was very polite.
And her point was valid... She was told that the purpose of the assembly wasn't "political". So she asked WHY they were there?
And her question was shown on CNN in a segment addressing McCain's POLITICAL campaign. And characterized as heckling.
I guess she should have just shut up and been a backdrop for McCain's campaign stop. Scenery shouldn't talk.
Dude, did you just liken that question to being in a combat zone? Hang it up, Acosta. You’re just an embarrassment now.
yes he did, and yes he is! But really, this was clearly a question and not a heckle, and Acosta is clearly an ass and not a reporter.
Funny, I've never seen a heckler given a MICROPHONE before!
What's more interesting is McCain's grumpy attempt at humor. If he doesn't enjoy running for president, he just quit now.
He's going to burst into flames during the debates with Obama.
Imagine McCain elected president:
ACOSTA: Earlier today at the Presidents press conference, John McCain was apparently heckled by one of the reporters. Here he is, President McCain responding to the heckler reporter:
REPORTER: Mr. President, I was told this was going to be a press conference, but I fail to see why we're here outside on the White House lawn at what appears to be a barbecue..
MCCAIN: Well my friend, obviously this is a normal press conference not a barbecue *McCain looks anxiously over his shoulder at Joe Lieberman who quickly signals to security* and you're welcome to ask me any question you want. I would appreciate though if you refrain from somehow implying that this press conference is not serious or legitimate. I can assure you it is.
ACOSTA: So there you have it, John McCain, who is no stranger to incoming fire, able to handle that heckler there...
ChrisM70 @ 2:
AMEN!!
Acosta knows who butters his bread.
I haven't watched Faux news for 5 or more years and CNN for about as long. As far as MSNBC is concerned the only shows I can stand are Kieth and Dan Abrams. Tweety for me is kind of like fingernails on the blackboard. It does seem as though this "Man love" thing for McCain by all of the MSM is grating to say the least. I hope before the Nov. Election the press will start to do their job as spelled out in the 1st amendment and dig into that a#&holes background to let the American public know just what a jerk he really is. However I won't take any bets on that. BTW I wonder what Ted Turner thinks about what has happened to his "BABY" CNN.
That little mole for McCain, Acosta, needs to be heckled so he knows what the fucking word means. What a complete dildo.
That dopelganger should be sued for defamation and slander of that sincere, innocent questioner who put herself out there to ask an important question.
Kudos to that kid for asking McInsane what is probably the toughest question he's been asked so far. It was a fair question: "This is a high school in Virginia, so why the fuck are you here, exactly??" Sounds like a perfectly reasonable question to me. "Heckling"?? - that's just bullshit. This is just the beginning folks. Remember, this early in the campaign back in 2000 even chimpy didn't get this kind of kid gloves treatment from the so called "Liberal" media. What till ya get a load of the bubble they build for President McCain (God forbid!!)
That should read "Wait till you get a load of......."
BillyA @ 21:
WOW! Now THAT'S a visual I could've lived quite happily without! Even as a gay man, the mere thought of John McCain's jizm makes me violently ill!
I wonder how this guy gets to be called reporter?
Wouldn't stenographer be more accurate?
Or propagandest?
Yeah that was brutal, especially the "not that I don't appreciate you being here" part. I'm surprised she didn't get tazed!
At the risk of being off topic, can I explain why this whole "McCain is a war hero" bullshit should be put to rest? Here's why. My idea of "war heroes" are the the poor and working class kids who fought on the ground in Viet Nam, only to return with their bodies and spirits shattered. My idea of a true hero is Max Cleland who, despite the loss of several limbs, has been a true patriot who spoke truth to power, even after being shit on by the people in his own state when they voted for that piece of shit Saxby Chambliss instead of him. McCain? What did he do? Bomb villages from 30,000 feet? He would have survived the war without even a paper cut had it not been for that twist of fate which landed him in the Hanoi Hilton (no piece of cake, admittedly). So I for one don't consider him any kind of war hero.
Does anyone have a good URL link I can use in order to complain to CNN? This is one of the most unacceptable things I've seen all year.
Great question by that student, very insightful.
Follow-up from another heckler...me:
Senator McCain, you claim that your visit here isn't part of a political campaign. During your many years as a senator from Arizona, have you ever before conducted such state-to-state "tours" when you weren't running for president?
Bob Moon @ 63:
Instead of hoping, why don't you communicate your displeasure with the media constantly giving McCain a free pass? If they are aware of it, they will most likely do the opposite just to prove they aren't biased.
That's a hecker?
Nah, Jimmy Acosta's a fukking idiot!
I think there's a fundamental misunderstanding of how corporate media works in the United States. Like every other division, the news divisions of the for-profit companies are supposed to maximize ratings so that they can generate maximum advertising revenue. Remember this key fact: They are in business to make money. They have no other function."
To that end, the goal of propping up McCain is quite similar to what you see quite often in professional boxing, where one fighter is woefully under-matched against his opponent. Since the purpose of boxing is to make money and sell as many pay-per-view subscriptions as possible, the marketing types are out in force to make sure that the fight at least has some semblance of competitiveness.
So, in the case of McCain, were the for-profit media to acknowledge what every person with a brain already knows - i.e., McCain will get KO'd in the first round - then who would pay a dime to watch their coverage of the impending disaster other than those who like to spectate at car crashes or are mesmerized by the suffering of others? That's why they are doing their best to transform John "Palooka" McCain into the "Great White Hope" - quite literally, since presumably the election of HRC or Obama will sound the death knell for white male supremacy (not really, but you know how those people think).
Thus, be not surprised. If McCain had a snowball's chance in hell of competing the media would be harder on him. Remember, it's not personal, it's just business.
Man, I wouldn't even classify that clip as garden variety MSM spin. That was an out and out, deliberate distortion of fact by a so called "reporter". "Incoming fire"?? WTF!!!??? You're comparing being asked a somewhat pointed but not particulary disrespectful question to being under enemy fire!!!??? Really???? Jesus Christ! Is it expecting too much for these overpaid media babblers to maintain at least a modicum of perspective???
chuck @ 18:
Hey Acosta; here's what heckling sounds like:
"Mr. Acosta, you're a worthless hack, a sad sorry media whore that for some reason feels compelled to defend McCain against non-existent attacks.
You're in the bag, you're bought and paid for, your GOP talking points are showing. Loser."
That's heckling.
And they're saying that Barack is being treated with kid gloves.
VietVet67 @ 80:
Yeah, I have to laugh everytime I hear that one. It's as funny as when you hear the wingnuts ranting about the "Liberal" media.
Are you sure this isn't 'The Bigotry tour' instead of the other thing?
Andre @ 72:
Dude. Really? This is one of the most unacceptable things you've seen this year? Mukasey revelation lie?, Yoo memo?, Report on civilian deaths in Irag, US soldiers killed in IRaq reaches over 4000, and thats just a few in the 3 months of this year. Not meant to bash you but man get it together and stop over dramatizing something thats been going on since newspapers were first printed and start to get outraged by the real shit you should be outraged about.
geneHUSSEIN214 @ 71:
I concur and suggest that in fact, napalming whole villages would fall under war criminal, not war hero.
Micel Sims @ 83:
True, Micel, there are other, more egregious outrages, but we're not talking about those right now. This thread has to do with the latest example of the kind of kid gloves treatment being accorded McCain by the so called "Liberal" media.
The girl was being rude and obnoxious. It was McCain's alma mater and he was on his Biagrapy tour. Does anyone honestly think she didn't already know exactly what his reasons for being there were?
If she didn't, and I was her dad shelling out big money to send her to a school like that with John McCain as one if its more noted alumni, I'd be asking for my money back from the bursar's office.
Why is it it wrong to call someone a heckler who asks a stupid question, or at least a rude one that she already should know the answer to? Because the event was described to be non-political but had 'obvious political overtones'? Everything this man does and says now will have political overtones.
Another reach.
Liberal bias? Haha, yet another lie of US Society. What's liberal at all about making McCain look good? Or Clinton or Obama for that matter?
I can't wait to see the republican spin on this:
"Liberal bloggers today took CNN and the fair and balanced Jim Accosta to task today over a recent CNN report claiming that Mccain was heckled by a student. Well we all know that the student was really a plant for the loonie lefties and couldnt possible have been a patriotic American student. Real Americans don't heckle Republican presidential hopefuls because of the Patriot act. If they do they run the possibility of being sent to Gitmo as a terrorist. At the very least this heckler should be sent to family values classes, children shouldnt disrespect their elders."
We should start checking Burson Marsteller's payroll for journalists on the take.
Uh, nothing wrong with that question Mr. Reporter. It is a political event. Idiot.