The Media, Kerry and Swift Boat Veteran George Elliot

Why is it that the press never asks the right questions? We give them great freedom under the constitution. In return they have the resposibility to be, well, responsible. It is irresponsible for the press to publish allegations or claims that are totally false. Yes, we want a free and open dicussion in our society. The press is given its special status as the fourth estate in order to make sure that the discussion is informed. It does no good, indeed it does great harm, to inform us of falsity. Mistakes are to be expected. The problem is that the press is constantly screwing up the story and presenting falsehoods and distortions. Bernie Goldberg makes this case well in Bias and shows that the agenda of the Left has informed the distortion.

In the last few years, thanks in part to Bias, but also to Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, the landscape of the media has changed; MSNBC, for example, has Scarborough and CNBC has Dennis Miller. These influences have helped to include perspectives other than those of the Left. Today, one can readily hear the conservative take on the world. The hard news itself is less left-slanted than it used to be. This is progress toward responsible journalism: the fair presentation of the issues.

But, getting the real story can still be difficult. The press, even the so called conservative press, does not always tell the story in a reasonable manner. In order to be an informed participant in the national conversation one needs to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Case in point: Kerry and the Swift Boast Veterans for Truth.

George Elliot was Kerry's commanding officer and recommended Kerry for the Silver Star. He also created a "write-up" of events upon which the actual awarding was based. On July 21st, Elliot signed an affidavit, along with the other Swift Boast guys, saying that Kerry lied about, among other things, the events that led to his Silver Star. Then on August 6th the Boston Blobe ran a story by Michael Kranish "VETERAN RETRACTS CRITICISM OF KERRY" quoting Elliot saying the affidavit was a "terrible mistake." In response, Elliot signed another affidavit wholly endorsing and reaffirming his prior one adding that his knowledge of the events were not first hand. He further added that his current understanding of the the events is based partially on Kerry's own narrative as quoted by Kranish himslef in the Globe bio of Kerry.

On FoxNews Watch today, Jane Hall repeated this story of affidavit, recantation, and so on as an argument that the Swift Boat guys are lying. Jim Pinkerton responding by pointing out that no other news agency has verified the Globe claim that Elliot recanted. It is worth asking, "If Kransih has proof (video or audio) to support his quotation, why have we not seen it?" This would put this little controversy to bed and give the Globe a needed reputation boost -- so where is it? What is disgusting is that Jane Hall and many, many others have decided that the single, unconfirmed and apparantly unsupported Globe article is more believable than an honorable man's affidavit. Of course, it gets worse. No one has pointed out that the Silver Star was awarded to Kerry partially based on false information. Elliot has admitted that he has no first hand knowledge of the events. Obviously, it was Kerry himself, since he was admittedly alone, that reported the events to Elliot.

My problem then is this: The press is supposed to sort through these conflicting stories and use educated, reasoned judgement to report to us the true story. There is no good reason to believe that Elliot suddenly and briefly recanted his sworn affidavit. Whereas, Kerry's own narrative supports Elliots claim that he did not know that Kerry had pursued a lone gunman (nor that he shot him in the back). The only real argument is whether Kerry told Elliot this or not.

BTW, does this not explain why Elliot is so mad. He was used by Kerry. Elliot makes it quite plain that he would not have recommended Kerry if Kerry had told him what he told Kranish.

The media persists in allowing themselves and Kerry's team to refer to the Globe article as proof. We need to see more proof than that.