Letter from David Brock to CNN president re: Novak contract
November 9, 2005
Jim Walton
President, CNN News Group
Time Warner Inc.
One CNN Center
Atlanta, GA 30303
Dear Mr. Walton:
I am writing to respectfully ask that you not renew CNN's contract with syndicated columnist and CNN contributor Robert D. Novak, which is reportedly set to expire in early 2006. While Novak has not been on the air since August 2005, when he was suspended for uttering an obscenity and storming off the set, I would ask that you take this next step.
Very little has been disclosed regarding Novak's involvement in the ongoing CIA leak investigation that has so far led to the indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. But as Media Matters for America has documented, in the two years since Novak exposed former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV's wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA operative, Novak has made several contradictory statements with respect to crucial issues in the case. In two instances, Novak's account of events appeared to change in the fall of 2003, after the Justice Department launched a formal investigation into the case.
As we noted on August 5, 2005:
- Novak contradicted his own account of how he was given Plame's name. He first claimed that "two administration officials" gave him the name because they thought it was "significant." After the Justice Department investigation began, Novak claimed the officials had given him Plame's name only in an "offhand" way.
- In his original July 14, 2003, column, Novak clearly laid out Wilson's qualifications to conduct the trip to Niger, which included 15 years as a Foreign Service officer and his appointment as ambassador to Gabon by President George H.W. Bush. After the Justice Department investigation was launched, Novak began to repeat publicly that he was initially "curious" about why Wilson had been chosen to investigate the Niger allegations.
- In a July 15, 2004, column, Novak accurately stated that in its 2004 report on prewar intelligence on Iraq, the Senate Intelligence Committee had not reached an official conclusion as to whether Plame had suggested Wilson for the fact-finding mission to Niger. But in his August 1, 2005, column, Novak contradicted his earlier reporting, falsely stating that the committee's unanimous report refuted Wilson's denial, concluding that Wilson's wife had "suggested his name for the trip."
Mr. Novak's credibility as a CNN contributor has been severely compromised by these contradictory statements and accounts, as well as by his complete lack of candor on the issue of his involvement in the outing of Plame. In light of the recent indictments handed down against Libby by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald, I trust that CNN will acknowledge the seriousness of this matter and make Novak's suspension permanent.
Sincerely,
David Brock
President and CEO
Media Matters for America
I wish this were a petition. Several thousand signatories might convince CNN to actually dismiss this "talking (points) head."
As a regular viewer of CNN and a concerned citizen, I concur with David Brock.
(there you go, petition started.)
Why did David Brock write a smear book against Anita Hill?
Why did he change his political thinking?
Why attack Robert Novak ? is it because Novak is a Conservative with a different view than MM?
Why is MM so biased against anyone with different views than they have?
jylon...Read his book and you'll find the answers re Brock. Re bias of MM, you wanna talk about bias...all you have to do is look at a rightwing conserative.
Count me in on the petition to rid the media of a jerk like novak...there could be a few more that should go as well. Where's the patriotism in some of these jerks?
Ask Brock, regarding his change of political views. But as for MMFA's bias against "different views", read the posts a little more carefully. They're not blasting people for different politics but for a) lying or b) outrageous statements or c) both. This is not a he said/she said site. It's about calling out the liars and rightwing hit men for their lies and hatemongering folderol.
"Why did David Brock write a smear book against Anita Hill?
Why did he change his political thinking?
Why attack Robert Novak ? is it because Novak is a Conservative with a different view than MM?
Why is MM so biased against anyone with different views than they have?"...by jlyon
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I've put Brock's book on my Christmas list because I'd like to read HIS side to his metamorphosis myself. It is highly unusual (IMO) to change ideology&philosophy overnight....so it should be an INTERESTING story.
As far as Novak goes, he's an EMBARRASSMENT to Republican/Conservatives. The guy should retire.
I don't think of MMFA as being biased, just presenting what they decree as Conservative MIS-information. I don't ALWAYS agree, but at least they allow me to speak my mind here (thus far)
I disagree jeter. To take a political stance is being biased by definition. The problem arises when people start lying and cheating so that their side wins.
jeter2 - Thursday November 10, 2005 05:34:14 PM EST -
I have the book and read it long ago, it is a very good book and deals with that issue very well.
Jeter, definitely read the book. But keep a bottle of tums handy cause what he has to say will make you sick! No political machine regardless of ideology should ever be allowed to commit the crimes he describes.
But I digress.
I think that Mr. Brock understands how to lie effectively better than most people. Fortunately for this country and world, he also understands the consequences. Something Novak and his ilk have yet to learn.
sign me up for this virtual petition!
Here's the difference between MMFA's bias and Fox News' bias. MMFA uses facts. Fox News rarely does.
The awesome thing is that people are finally beginning to see this administration for what it is. Cheney and his secret deals and Bush with his total incompetance. The funny part of it all is among my conservative friends, I can't find anybody now who will admit to voting for Bush in 2004. It reminds me of Alabama and George Wallace. He always won the election but you could never find anyone who voted for him.
First let me say I am proud to be affiliated with MMFA. I am also proud to be a Liberal, who despite the rhetoric, has the intellect to move our county in the direction needed to recover from this administration's war based in lies and false economic recovery. It appears, the Left have awaken to fight the fight we should of fought right after the 2000 election.
In part, because of the bold and strongman tactics of the Bush administration, the Left reeled back and settled with a complain plenty do nothing approach to issues at hand. We became settled with the assumption the word Liberal meant you were endowed with everything wrong and only belonged in the category of extremes to be shunned by the mere mention of their name.
After two questionable elections, a war we were tricked into supporting, and a mounting reality that everything they have fought for 40 years, the Left now knows it is under attack from the Bush administration and his Republican supporters. Since the close of the Senate -- a special 21 rule -- to move into a close session, the left as awaken to fight. The Democrats, or the so called Liberals, have awaken to ask the important questions about how we got into a occupation of another country fighting for oil that is not ours. The Democrats have awaken to claim the proud accomplishments associated with being Liberal and caring for the world around them. With every move forward, the Left clarifies what the Right has so cleverly distorted and made a mockery of. Yes, the Left and all the good it has stood for stands in the only light it knows and that is in the interest of the American people.
Joseph