Transcript
BOB GARFIELD: This is On the Media. I'm Bob Garfield with a few of your letters. Matt Patton of Chicago wrote in to thank us for our discussion on CNN's lawsuit to gain access to Florida's felon list, which is likely to prevent some eligible Floridians from voting. Patton writes: "I lived in Jacksonville four years ago when many people showed up at the polls to discover they were no longer registered to vote. It is a sad irony that in Florida, a state with its freedom of information protections written directly into its constitution, the public would be restricted from knowing who will be denied a vote in November." Matt, you'll be happy to know that on Thursday, a Florida State court judge ordered the Board of Elections to release the list. We had a strong response to our discussion about the apparent contradictions between the president's assertion that there were "connections" between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 Commission's declaration that there was no "collaboration." Jeff Waldrun of Amherst, Massachusetts says he was, quote "very disappointed with our analysis." He writes: "I thought that it was very clear that the inconsistencies in such reports, especially with regard to the ones by the press, the 9/11 Commission and the White House, were a result of what they thought the words 'connection, collaborative connection and relationship' meant. For example, when OTM used the word connection, you instinctively considered it to mean a relationship in furtherance of terrorism. In contrast, the president purported it to mean a mere contact of suspicious character. At the very base of it, not all relationships are beneficial. After all, even the U.S. has a 'relationship' with Osama bin Laden, doesn't it? But instead of a concise discussion of how we should understand the meaning of those words and how they are interpreted by different people, you spent your time belittling the perceptiveness of the news audience. I agree that the inferences by the White House have been terribly misleading and that they have made a mountain out of a molehill. I am bothered by how many people think that Iraq sponsored 9/11, but the media is all about the images and words we use, and to assume everyone hears them in the same way is foolish. You've rarely made that mistake, but I think you made it in this case." [MUSIC]
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