CNN Regrets Role In Planting US Dem Presidential Debate Question

AP via Dow Jones | 11/11/03 | AP Staff

[BunnySlippers]

CNN Regrets Role In Planting US Dem Pres Debate Question

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)--A Cable News Network producer went "too far" when the news organization told a student what question to ask during last week's Democratic presidential candidate debate in Boston, a spokeswoman for the news network said.

During the debate, co-sponsored by the nonprofit Rock the Vote organization, Brown University student Alexandra Trustman asked the candidates whether they preferred the PC or Mac format for their computers.

In an editorial she wrote for The Brown Daily Herald, the university's student newspaper, Trustman said CNN, a unit of TimeWarner (TWX), told her to ask the question.

In a statement Tuesday, a CNN spokeswoman said the cable network regrets the producer's actions.

"In an attempt to encourage a lighthearted moment in this debate, a CNN producer working with Ms. Trustman clearly went too far," said spokeswoman Christa Robinson.

A message left Tuesday for Trustman wasn't immediately returned and she didn't respond to an e-mail from The Associated Press. A woman who answered Trustman's phone said Trustman didn't want to comment.

In her editorial in the Daily Herald, Trustman wrote that she was called the morning of the debate and given the topic of the question the CNN producers wanted her to ask. Trustman said she was "confused by the question's relevance," and constructed what she thought was a more relevant question "about how, if elected, the candidates would use technology in their administrations."

But when she arrived in Boston for the debate, Trustman wrote, "I was handed a note card with the Macs and PCs version of Clinton's boxers or briefs question" and told she couldn't ask her question "because it wasn't lighthearted enough and they wanted to modulate the event with various types of questions."

[DeuceTraveler]

Any minute now CNN will talk about this story and air an apology...

any minute now...

[Diddle E. Squat]

What a minute = Wait a minute

[Consort]

Yes, and the English word for schadenfreude is epicaricacy.

[jwalsh07]

Okie dokie Mr Goebells, whatever you say as long as it's for the greater good.

[Maceman]

epicaricacy

Wat dat? (A form of government run by epicures?)

[sr4402]

Anybody bother to ask CNN if they "planted" any other cards?

[Xenalyte]

In an editorial she wrote for The Brown Daily Herald, the university's student newspaper, Trustman said CNN, a unit of TimeWarner (TWX), told her to ask the question.

And just like a good little soldier, she did what they asked.

[Grig]

Raises all kinds of questions, like was any candidate prepped by CNN to endorse PC or Mac in their answer, was Apple or a PC maker paying for this question as a form of advertising, was 'boxers or briefs' a prepped question...

[Consort]

See post #23.

[Grig]

Raises all kinds of questions, like was any candidate prepped by CNN to endorse PC or Mac in their answer, was Apple or a PC maker paying for this question as a form of advertising, was 'boxers or briefs' a prepped question...

[Prov3456]

I can't even pronounce that!

I wasn't aware that such a word exists in English. How is it pronounced?

[Lazamataz]

Is it my imagination, or is every liberal news org getting the huge shaft lately?

[mewzilla]

How sorry are they? Is the producer still working at CNN?

[Burlem]

More proof that Bernard Goldberg's BIAS, is correct.

[randita]

I imagine this young lady was razzed mercilessly about such why she would ask such a stupid question. No wonder she blew the whistle on CNN--it was CNN who was stupid.

[Wright is right!]

"epicaricacy."

eh-pee-CARE-ih-cah-see.

Michael

[Consort]

How is it pronounced?

epicaricacy
/ep"-i-kar-ik'-i-see/ taking pleasure in another's misfortune: schadenfreude

[wardaddy]

can you precisely define that please?

[Dustbunny]

Can't find much difference between planting a question and the way CNN fabricates much of the actual news.

[Naspino]

This story is getting played wrong. In a DEBATE -- CNN was caught planting softball questions in the audience. I wonder how many others didn't step forward? I couldn't keep up with the STUPID softballs that were being thrown in that debate. It mirrors how CNN treats its reporting of the DNC.