CNN Screws Up. Blames Everybody Else.

The righteous indignation in this piece from CNN is a joke. They got caught reporting a story that wasn't a story, and boy are they angry:



I agree with White House press secretary Robert Gibbs: "Before we report things like this, checking would be good," Gibbs said.

Responding directly to a CNN reporter's question about whether the public should have been notified about a training exercise, Gibbs was harshly sarcastic: "If anybody was unnecessarily alarmed based on erroneous reporting that denoted that shots had been fired, I think everybody is apologetic about that."

When another journalist noted that the Coast Guard was holding a news conference to take questions on the morning's events, Gibbs jabbed: "Hopefully CNN will go."

I've seen some pieces asking why the Coast Guard would hold such an exercise on the anniverary of 9/11. Oh, I don't know, maybe because it's a Friday. Maybe they were due for a refresher. Maybe they just felt like it. Point is, it's good to have the military work on their training no matter what day of the week it is. The only reason this story made the news is because CNN reported that shots had been fired - and they hadn't.