CNN Jumps the Gun on Coast Guard Exercise in D.C.

File photo: Pentagon across the Potomac

You probably heard about the hysterical reporting of shots being fired by the Coast Guard on the Potomac River while President Barack Obama was at the Pentagon for a 911 ceremony.

It seems the Coast Guard was conducting a training exercise that CNN took for the real thing.

Granted, I think somebody left their thinking cap at home when they planned an exercise for the anniversary of the greatest terrorist attack on American soil in history, but it seems the White House wasn’t pleased with CNN either.

From ABC News:

Gibbs said the “reporting was based on listening to a police scanner” and wasn’t “verified” before being reported. Many media outlets falsely reported that shots had been fired.

He said media should “check before reporting” such events, and suggested other training exercises are likely going on right now that we don’t know about, and rejected any comparison with the Air Force One flyover of Manhattan.

Gibbs should be a little easier on the “mainstream” media at CNN here. After all, they’re used to reporting without checking any facts. For decades they’ve reported off the liberal talking points of the day, and aren’t used to doing real journalism in the absence of show prep.

This sort of shoot-from-the-hip propaganda has worked well for liberals in promoting their views in the news, so liberals should be willing to put up with a few bumps in the road like this.

Besides, the “mainstream” media is used to viewing America’s defense forces with loathing and hostility, so they were probably clueless as to the difference between an exercise and the real thing.

When I was in the military, we conducted countless training exercises and we were always required to use the word “Exercise” at the beginning and/or end of every radio transmission, with generous use of the word “simulated” in connection with exercise events (e.g. “simulated 6 enemy killed,” “simulated explosion at the LOX plant,” etc.).

Hopefully the Coast Guard was following such procedures, but knowing CNN’s record for sloppy journalism, it’s hard to know at this point.

WSBTV also reports that Reagan National Airport was shut down for a while during this confusion.

I’m going to be in Washington next week via Reagan National for the Values Voter Summit, so I hope both CNN and the Coast Guard take a chill pill before then.

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