CNN Spends Over Half Hour of Coverage on Gun Control Presser, Touts 'Raw Emotion'
CNN devoted over a half hour of coverage on Thursday to touting Mayor
Bloomberg's "Demand Action to End Gun Violence" conference, where
Bloomberg, Vice President Biden, and families of gun violence victims
pushed for stricter gun control. Over 22 minutes was given to live
coverage of the conference.
CNN hyped the "raw emotion" of the speakers pressing Congress to take
action on gun control. Although gun control was the focus, anchor Carol
Costello framed it as an innocuous "battle over reforming our gun laws."
Correspondent Susan Candiotti wondered if the presence of grieving
family members of victims would "make a difference" in getting gun laws
passed.
"Newtown parents, many of them, will be at this news conference today, standing aside New York's Mayor Bloomberg, and of course, Vice President Biden. They've been supporting the President's proposed legislation for that assault weapon ban, but will their support make a difference in the end?" Candiotti asked.
"Politics gave way to raw emotion today as Vice President Joe Biden,
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and the families of the victims of the
Newtown massacre pushed for tighter gun control," hyped anchor Don
Lemon. Anchor Fredricka Whitfield also highlighted the "emotion," noting
the Vice President's "emotional appeal for new gun laws."
Costello cast the issue as "reform": "We begin this morning with the battle over reforming our gun laws."
During the 1 p.m. ET hour of Newsroom, NN played multiple
clips of speakers pushing for gun control, Candiotti rattled off the
frustrations of the families of gun victims. "And he said he is having a
hard time trying to understand why Congress in his view seems to be
holding back on this legislation," she introduced a clip of Jesse Lewis,
father of a Newtown shooting victim.
Below is a transcript of the segments, which began airing on CNN Newsroom on March 21 at 10:00 a.m. EDT:
CNN
NEWSROOM
3/21/13
[10:00 a.m. EDT]
CAROL COSTELLO: We begin this morning with the battle over reforming
our gun laws. Vice President Joe Biden is speaking out and refusing to
back down from a proposed assault weapons ban. The Vice President spoke
to NPR about the need to limit large capacity magazines, too.
(Audio Clip)
JOE BIDEN, Vice President of the United States: In Newtown, those 20
beautiful babies and six serious people trying to help them,
administrators and teachers, all dead, today. The police responded in
two and one-half minutes. Two and one-half minutes. This guy had
30-round clips in it. If that had been only ten rounds, who knows
whether one or two or five or seven of those people would be alive
today.
MELISSA BLOCK, NPR: Or he could have just reloaded and could have just loaded another magazine.
BIDEN: That's not true. That's not true. Because he reloaded with 30-round clips and that's as far as he got. Just do the math.
(End Audio Clip)
COSTELLO: The Vice President continues his message today. He and New
York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will speak next hour. They'll be joined by
families from Newtown, Connecticut. CNN national correspondent Susan
Candiotti is outside the event in New York. Good morning, Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, national correspondent: Good morning, Carol. Yes, you
know, the chances of currently passing a strong gun control legislation
appear pretty slim, probably, given what happened earlier this week.
Senator Harry Reid, you'll remember, announced that he was dropping the
assault weapon ban from the current proposal, before the Senate bill.
Now, Senator Dianne Feinstein says she will introduce it as an
amendment, adding that she won't lay down and play dead. So, Carol, the
GOP continues to say the better idea is to simply better enforce the
laws that are already on the books. Carol, the debate isn't ending
anytime soon.
COSTELLO: Doesn't appear to be. What role does the school shooting at Newtown play here?
CANDIOTTI: Well, as you indicated, of course, Newtown parents, many of
them, will be at this news conference today, standing aside New York's
Mayor Bloomberg, and of course, Vice President Biden. They've been
supporting the President's proposed legislation for that assault weapon
ban, but will their support make a difference in the end? One thing is
for sure, of course, the memories of what happened that day in Newtown
at Sandy Hook Elementary remain vivid in everyone's mind. Here's what
the police chief said last night on Piers Morgan live.
(Video Clip)
CHIEF MICHAEL KEHOE, Newtown, Connecticut Police: That day will be
etched in my mind, will forever change me. And I think that as I reflect
today about that day, as much as I try to forget about it, I just
can't, and I know that will give me the energy to move forward and to
hopefully make change in our society that we need.
(End Video Clip)
CANDIOTTI: And you know what, Carol, we have results of the latest
CNN/ORC poll that indicate that public support for major gun control
restrictions has actually been on the decline since Sandy Hook. Gone
down.
(...)
[1:02 p.m.]
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: Vice President Biden teamed up with New York Mayor
Michael Bloomberg today to push for new gun control laws. Biden made an
emotional appeal for action.
(Video Clip)
JOE BIDEN, Vice President of the United States: For all those who say
we shouldn't or couldn't ban high capacity magazines, I just ask them
one question, think about Newtown. Think about Newtown. Think about how
many of these children or teachers may be alive today had he had to
reload three times as many times as he did. Think about what happened
out in where Gabby Gifford, my good friend, was shot and mortally
wounded. Think about when that young man had to try to change the clip.
Had he only had a ten-round clip when he changed the clip and fumbled
and had it knocked out of his hands, how many more people would have
been alive? And tell me, tell me how it violates anyone's constitutional
right to be limited to a clip that holds ten rounds instead of 30, or
in Aurora, 100?
(End Video Clip)
WHITFIELD: Let's get more on the vice president's emotional appeal for
new gun laws. Susan Candiotti was at that occasion, and that speech in
New York. So Susan, what's the Vice President's strategy here, with the
backdrop of New York City, the mayor and involving a number of family
members from the Connecticut shooting?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI: Fredricka, it's always so hard to hear from the
parents of those victims as well. What the Vice President is trying to
do, Fredricka, is to get all the support he can especially from the
public, to try to fight for more, as they put it, common sense gun
control legislation. So he's doing these speeches so that he can try to
encourage the public to call their lawmakers in wherever they happen to
live, to try to get more support for this type of legislation. So he is
calling for, for example, universal background checks, which many people
think exist but do not currently. He's asking for tighter restrictions
on the size of those gun magazines. And, of course he and the President
really pushing for a renewed ban on assault weapons.
(Video Clip)
BIDEN: Three months ago a deranged man walked into Sandy Hook
Elementary school with a weapon of war. That's what he walked in with,
with a weapon of war. And that weapon of war has no place on American
streets. And taking it off America's streets has no impact on one's
constitutional right to own a weapon.
(End Video Clip)
CANDIOTTI: Now, of course the Vice President was flanked by parents of
both children and teachers there at Sandy Hook Elementary school,
victims of those attacks. And one of them was a parent of Jesse Lewis.
This is someone who has testified before Congress before on this very
same subject. And he said he is having a hard time trying to understand
why Congress in his view seems to be holding back on this legislation.
(Video Clip)
NEIL HESLIN, father of Newtown victim Jesse Lewis: My son Jesse's life
was taken by a cowardly deranged person with an assault weapon. No child
deserves to be murdered or brutally slaughtered the way these children
were. And quite honestly I'm really ashamed to see that Congress doesn't
have the guts to stand up and make a change.
(End Video Clip)
CANDIOTTI: Now, the mother of another victim mentioned, without
mentioning him by name, referred to Ohio Senator Rob Portman, saying
that this is someone who recently changed his public – his personal
opinion about same-sex marriage because of a personal experience knowing
that his son is gay. She said I hope that other people out there don't
have to go through a personal experience losing someone before they
possibly change their mind and support more gun control legislation and
laws.
(...)
[2:08 p.m.]
DON LEMON: Politics gave way to raw emotion today as Vice President Joe
Biden, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and the families of the
victims of the Newtown massacre pushed for tighter gun control.
(Video Clip)
NEIL HESLIN, father of Newtown victim Jesse Lewis: My son Jesse's life
was taken by a cowardly deranged person with an assault weapon. No child
deserves to be murdered or brutally slaughtered the way these children
were. And quite honestly, I'm really ashamed to see that Congress
doesn't have the guts to stand up and make a change and put a ban on
these type of weapons and universal background checks.
LYNN MCDONNELL, mother of Newtown victim Grace McDonnell: In the
immediate aftermath of the shootings, there was a sense of what happened
in our town might be a tipping point, and that real meaningful progress
in the area of gun safety might result. And we know that a lot of good
people are working very hard to try to make this happen, and we thank
them for that. We'd ask everyone who has power to influence legislation
in this area and, of course, those whose job it is to vote on the
legislation to ask themselves if they are doing enough to bring about
real and meaningful change, and if they are not, to ask themselves, why
not?
(End Video Clip)
LEMON: Well, the White House has been urging Congress to pass an
assault weapons ban, but Senate Democrats dropped it this week from the
gun control package that will be debated on the Senate floor next month.
(Video Clip)
JOE BIDEN, Vice President of the United States: Three months ago a
deranged man walked into Sandy Hook Elementary school with a weapon of
war. That's what he walked in with, a weapon of war. And that weapon of
war has no place on American streets. And taking it off America's
streets has no impact on one's constitutional right to own a weapon.
Ain't no less than Justice Scalia in the last decision acknowledged that
the government has the right to limit certain weapons from being able
to be possessed by American citizens.
(End Video Clip)
LEMON: The Vice President says that the will of the people will prevail
and he reminded the room that the original ten-year assault weapons ban
had long been written off long before it eventually was adopted in
1994.
