Has CNN's integrity sunk so low that it is now using works of fiction as sources to round out its own reports?
While covering the story of Fox News reporter Greg Burke moving to the
Vatican's own communications team, CNN mentioned his membership in Opus
Dei and referenced the organization's (quite negative) portrayal in the
fictional book and movie The Da Vinci Code.
Correspondent Lisa Sylvester reported that "Burke is not a clergyman, but he is a member of the influential conservative lay group known as Opus Dei, depicted in Dan Brown's popular book and the movie 'Da Vinci Code' as a powerful and secretive group of fixers within the Catholic church." Sylvester later noted that the "popular depiction" is false, but that didn't stop her from including it in the report.
[Video below. Audio here [1].]
And the report included a helping of snark from David Gibson of the
Religion News Service. Gibson criticized the Catholic church's
communications strategy, and took a shot at the image of the church
hiring an Opus Dei member.
"You've got the Vatican hiring a guy from Opus Dei less than a week
after the pope's number two, Cardinal Bertone, said look, the media is
turning this all into a Dan Brown novel, all this leak scandal and
everything. Well, cardinal, if it's not a Dan Brown novel, you went and
turned around and hired a guy from Opus Dei. How is that going to play
out?" Gibson quipped.
Sylvester made sure to include the church's pedophilia scandal in the
report, as well as other events CNN considers "controversial" like the
Vatican's "crackdown" on American nuns.
Below is a transcript of the report, which aired on June 26 on CNN Newsroom at 9:50 a.m. EDT:
CAROL COSTELLO: The Vatican is hoping a fresh face will help its image,
and the person it's bringing in is actually an outsider to the church,
and he's not even a priest. Here's CNN's Lisa Sylvester.
(Begin Video Clip)
LISA SYLVESTER: (voice-over) In an unprecedented move, the pope has
hired a new public relations guru from a most unlikely place. Fox News
reporter Greg Burke, who covers Rome, is switching sides, becoming the
Vatican's senior adviser for communications. Burke told us his role will
be to contribute an outsider's perspective to Vatican meetings, to
shape strategies once decisions are made, and to help the Vatican avoid
some PR problems. And experts say he'll have his hands full.
DAVID GIBSON, Religion News Service: It's really the best move the
Vatican has made in a long time. But whether it's going to be enough, I
don't know. They've got a lot of problems internally, with their
communications strategy and also presentation.
SYLVESTER: Unlike most top Vatican officials, Burke is not a clergyman,
but he is a member of the influential conservative lay group known as
Opus Dei, depicted in Dan Brown's popular book and the movie "Da Vinci
Code" as a powerful and secretive group of fixers within the Catholic
church. Burke told us he is a dedicated numerary in the organization,
committed to staying celibate and unmarried, and it's a big part of his
life.
GIBSON: You've got the Vatican hiring a guy from Opus Dei less than a
week after the pope's number two, Cardinal Bertone, said look, the media
is turning this all into a Dan Brown novel, all this leak scandal and
everything. Well, cardinal, if it's not a Dan Brown novel, you went and
turned around and hired a guy from Opus Dei. How is that going to play
out?
SYLVESTER: Gibson does say that while Opus Dei is highly effective and
influential in the Vatican, it is not a sinister organization like the
popular depiction. Burke will start his new job amid an unfolding
Vatican scandal involving the leak of internal documents and the arrest
of the pope's butler. Also causing controversy, the recent crackdown on
American nuns, the censure of a nun's writings, and over the past few
years, the pope's handling of the pedophilia scandal. Burke says he will
not work from the press office, but instead will be based in the
powerful office of the Secretary of State.
JOHN ALLEN, CNN Vatican analyst: It's the place where the ultimate
insiders, the power brokers and movers and shakers are located. So the
fact that Burke is going to be working out of that space indicates that
they mean him to be a real insider, somebody who's going to be sitting
at the table when the sausage is ground.
SYLVESTER: (on camera) It also represents another American in the Vatican inner circle that now has several.
-- Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center