SOME NATIONAL MEDIA OWE ANN COULTER AN APOLOGY

ALEXANDRIA, VA -- Some leading national media are misreporting conservative Ann Coulters remarks about liberal Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards, including the NBC Nightly News, CNNs American Morning, The Washington Posts Reliable Source, and MSNBCs on-the-hour announcer. This is cut-and-paste reporting and it is disingenuous. In reference to this shoddy journalism, MRC President Brent Bozell issued the following statement:

When I first heard the sound-bite of Ann Coulters remarks calling for the assassination of John Edwards, I was appalled. Then I read the entire quote, and was doubly appalledat the media themselves. I have never seen a persons words so blatantly, and dishonestly distorted. When one reads, or listens to Anns entire statement, it is immediately apparent that she was wishing for no such thing.

Here is the quote being run by some of the top media:

Ann Coulter: If Im gonna say anything about John Edwards in the future, Ill just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot. (ABC, Good Morning America, June 25.)

Here is the entire quote:

Ann Coulter: But about the same time, you know, Bill Maher was not joking and saying he wished Dick Cheney had been killed in a terrorist attack. So, Ive learned my lesson. If Im gonna say anything about John Edwards in the future, Ill just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot. (ABC, Good Morning America, June 25.)

Ann Coulter was making the point that (a) a leftist like Bill Maher made the serious statement that it might be a positive thing to have Vice President Dick Cheney killed by terrorists, Brent Bozell continued, and, (b) it received no condemnation from the national press; and therefore (c) she would escape negative media scrutiny in the future were she to take that line against John Edwards.

It is an inescapable truth that Ann Coulter was dripping with sarcasm when she made her remark. It is also an inescapable truth that every TV, radio, and print outlet that has run the shortened version of her remarks is distorting her wordsdeliberately. Some have run the full-quote, such as the morning shows on CBS, ABC and NBC. Good for them.

But Ann Coulter is owed an apology from those outlets, including NBCs Nightly News, The Washington Post and CNNs American Morning, which have mis-reported her comments. And conservatives, take note: Today its Coulter, tomorrow it may be you. The left has demonstrated that it will stop at nothing, including flat-out dishonesty, to undermine our leaders.