In response to a letter Michael Moore wrote about CNN’s reporting on his documentary “SiCKO,” a CNN spokesperson released the following statement:
“It’s ironic that someone who has made a career out of holding powerful interests accountable is so sensitive to having his own work held up to the light by impartial journalists, as we did in our examination of ‘SiCKO,’ “ the spokesperson said.
“In our original report, we made one mistake, which we apologized for and corrected on air and online six days ago, despite Mr. Moore’s claim yesterday in his letter to us. Further, the e-mail Mr. Moore released in an effort to cast doubt on our reporting does no such thing.
Not a great idea getting offside with media giant I wouldn’t think.
I was thinking the same thing.
If he showed a little humility and sucked it up, they’d probably give him softball reviews for the most part. Most of the CNN staff probably mostly agrees with the guy. So if Ann Coulter made a movie it would be [rightly] panned or ignored. While Moore usually ends with ‘while it has some accuracy problems, Moore again raises important questions’ spin type reviews…
Looks like our Don Quixote has spied a windmill he doesn’t like:
An Open Letter to CNN from Michael Moore “I’m about to become your worst nightmare.”
I’m about to become your worst nightmare. ‘Cause I ain’t ever going away. Not until you set the record straight, and apologize to your viewers. “The Most Trusted Name in News?” I think it’s safe to say you can retire that slogan.
You have an occasional segment called “Keeping Them Honest.” But who keeps you honest? After what the public saw with your report on “Sicko,” and how many inaccuracies that report contained…
Creating Moore controversy where there is none.
That’s why I was so stunned when you let a doctor who knows a lot about brain surgery—but apparently very little about public policy—do a “fact check” story, not on the medical issues in “Sicko,” but rather on the economic and political information in the film. Is this why there has been a delay in your apology, because you are trying to get a DOCTOR to say he was wrong? Please tell him not to worry, no one is filing a malpractice claim against him. Dr. Gupta does excellent and compassionate stories on CNN about people’s health and how we can take better care of ourselves. But when it came time to discuss universal health care, he rushed together a bunch of sloppy—and old—research.
Time to change the saying from “Its not brain surgery” to “Its like watching a Micheal Moore film”
Hey, this is a good place to shill yer works
You distributed my first film, “Roger & Me” and you published “Dude, Where’s My Country?
There we go.
I expect CNN to put this matter to rest. Say you’re sorry and correct your story—like any good journalist would.
Really good journalists never, ever make mistakes, Mikey. And you’re obviously the bestest.
Then we can get back to more important things. Like a REAL discussion about our broken health care system. Everything else is a distraction from what really matters.
Iraq perhaps? Ah yes, Iraq.
P.S. If you also want to apologize for not doing your job at the start of the Iraq War, I’m sure most Americans would be very happy to accept your apology.
Most Americans would be downright ecstatic if you reopened your forums which you promised us years ago.
Or, an apology for lying to us about it would do, too.
I think Moore was probably taken aback when his bastian of Liberalism actually firmed up their spine and took him to task for some minor things in his film. It was obvious this was a big shock to him since he probably considers CNN an ally in most of his endeavors.
I followed Buzz’s link to the Reuters story, then cherry-picked this statement:
The number of children dying before their fifth birthday is seven per 1,000 live births in Cuba, versus eight per 1,000 in the United States, according to the World Health Organization.
Makes the US look pretty bad, doesn’t it? Just like all those statistics about how many babies under the age of 1 die in the US vs. the fewer in enlightened socialist countries. But as the saying goes: There’s lies; there’s damn lies; and then there’s statistics.
What you are not being told in those stories is that the US is one of the very few countries in the world that takes into account ALL live births—even babies who draw just one or two breaths before expiring. Most other countries do not start counting a baby as a live birth until the infant is at least an hour old; some countries wait an entire 24 hours.
I followed Buzz’s link to the Reuters story, then cherry-picked this statement:
The number of children dying before their fifth birthday is seven per 1,000 live births in Cuba, versus eight per 1,000 in the United States, according to the World Health Organization.
Makes the US look pretty bad, doesn’t it? Just like all those statistics about how many babies under the age of 1 die in the US vs. the fewer in enlightened socialist countries. But as the saying goes: There’s lies; there’s damn lies; and then there’s statistics.
What you are not being told in those stories is that the US is one of the very few countries in the world that takes into account ALL live births—even babies who draw just one or two breaths before expiring. Most other countries do not start counting a baby as a live birth until the infant is at least an hour old; some countries wait an entire 24 hours.
It struck me too, but considering some of the other statements made by the author I’d chuck it up to ignorance vs cherry picking. They seemed willing to present info damaging to his argument… when aware of it.
I suspect it may be one of those times that a friendly email to the author might actually fix it....
Looks like CNN is mobilizing their quisling oil shills to counter the idea of universal health care with “Nah, you don’t need it anyway” horror stories:
Maybe I’m the wrong ex-patient to be telling you this: Experimental surgery erased Stage III colon cancer from my shell-shocked body six years ago. But even I’ve got to admit that all is not well in America’s operating rooms: At least 12,000 Americans die each year from unnecessary surgery, according to a Journal of the American Medical Association report. And tens of thousands more suffer complications.
Surgery is a trauma, regardless of the surgeon’s skills.
The fact is, no matter how talented the surgeon, the body doesn’t much care about the doc’s credentials. Surgery is a trauma, and the body responds as such—with major blood loss and swelling, and all manner of nerve and pain signals that can stick around sometimes for months.
Those are but a few reasons to try to minimize elective surgery. And I found even more after talking with more than 25 experts involved in various aspects of surgery and surgical care, and after reviewing a half-dozen governmental and medical think tank reports on surgery in the United States. Here’s what you need to know about five surgeries that are overused and alternative solutions that may be worth a look.
Who cares if 12,000 Americans die each year from unnecessary (i.e. “for profit") surgery? Everyone should have the right to undergo any number of these surgeries, for free (i.e. “for health").
Whatever ails the proles on the street and makes them feel pain but also inferior must be remedied, and for free - be it sex changes, penile enhancements, plastic surgery, implants, hair plugs, dentures, shot livers. Imagine social workers testing out yer Viagra subscriptions for free…
I followed Buzz’s link to the Reuters story, then cherry-picked this statement:
The number of children dying before their fifth birthday is seven per 1,000 live births in Cuba, versus eight per 1,000 in the United States, according to the World Health Organization.
Makes the US look pretty bad, doesn’t it? Just like all those statistics about how many babies under the age of 1 die in the US vs. the fewer in enlightened socialist countries. But as the saying goes: There’s lies; there’s damn lies; and then there’s statistics.
What you are not being told in those stories is that the US is one of the very few countries in the world that takes into account ALL live births—even babies who draw just one or two breaths before expiring. Most other countries do not start counting a baby as a live birth until the infant is at least an hour old; some countries wait an entire 24 hours.
It struck me too, but considering some of the other statements made by the author I’d chuck it up to ignorance vs cherry picking. They seemed willing to present info damaging to his argument… when aware of it.
I suspect it may be one of those times that a friendly email to the author might actually fix it....
Surely you’d need some evidence as opposed to a theory in order for an email to change anything he’s written.
I followed Buzz’s link to the Reuters story, then cherry-picked this statement:
The number of children dying before their fifth birthday is seven per 1,000 live births in Cuba, versus eight per 1,000 in the United States, according to the World Health Organization.
Makes the US look pretty bad, doesn’t it? Just like all those statistics about how many babies under the age of 1 die in the US vs. the fewer in enlightened socialist countries. But as the saying goes: There’s lies; there’s damn lies; and then there’s statistics.
What you are not being told in those stories is that the US is one of the very few countries in the world that takes into account ALL live births—even babies who draw just one or two breaths before expiring. Most other countries do not start counting a baby as a live birth until the infant is at least an hour old; some countries wait an entire 24 hours.
It struck me too, but considering some of the other statements made by the author I’d chuck it up to ignorance vs cherry picking. They seemed willing to present info damaging to his argument… when aware of it.
I suspect it may be one of those times that a friendly email to the author might actually fix it....
Surely you’d need some evidence as opposed to a theory in order for an email to change anything he’s written.
Do you? Or should you just be skeptical of statistics from totalitarian governments?
I followed Buzz’s link to the Reuters story, then cherry-picked this statement:
The number of children dying before their fifth birthday is seven per 1,000 live births in Cuba, versus eight per 1,000 in the United States, according to the World Health Organization.
Makes the US look pretty bad, doesn’t it? Just like all those statistics about how many babies under the age of 1 die in the US vs. the fewer in enlightened socialist countries. But as the saying goes: There’s lies; there’s damn lies; and then there’s statistics.
What you are not being told in those stories is that the US is one of the very few countries in the world that takes into account ALL live births—even babies who draw just one or two breaths before expiring. Most other countries do not start counting a baby as a live birth until the infant is at least an hour old; some countries wait an entire 24 hours.
It struck me too, but considering some of the other statements made by the author I’d chuck it up to ignorance vs cherry picking. They seemed willing to present info damaging to his argument… when aware of it.
I suspect it may be one of those times that a friendly email to the author might actually fix it....
Surely you’d need some evidence as opposed to a theory in order for an email to change anything he’s written.
Do you? Or should you just be skeptical of statistics from totalitarian governments?
Does the WHO just accept figures provided by each government? (I don’t know, I haven’t looked into it)
