This wench should lose her job. To me, this is worse than Brian Williams' tall tales. Comments like this only contribute to and foster the anti-police sentiment in the "community".

"It was very courageous and brave, if not crazy as well, to open fire on the police headquarters, and now you have this scene, this standoff," Whitfield said.

CNN Anchor Calls Dallas Attack "Brave"

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'Merica!

Is this another case of NY anti -_____ ?

Sorry, Someone had to start it.

I'll go hide and watch.

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Dum vivo cano

that ain't right that ain't right

Her exact intent I'd wager.

But it will be played off with a perfunctory apology for an unintentional gaff.

That'd be very courageous and brave, if not crazy as well...

Seriously though, I'd like to think it's just some bimbo who can't form the proper words when they aren't given to her on a teleprompter. News should just be news without the opinions of newscasters.

Well, in all likelihood, the anchor's life experiences and liberal mindset of putting your physical self before all else create a different definition of the word "brave" than to most on this forum.

The Stupid is very strong in that one.

It's CNN.

What else is there to say?

Fortunately it was on CNN, only a few people got to see such abject stupidity on public display!

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Hopefully, she will get pulled over, in Dallas, someday.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

And that is why I deleted CNN from the menu-at least it's one reason. Piers was the main reason. I had to take an intelligence test for several jobs. Apparently not a requirement at CNN.

She should be fired, but even if that happens, she'll probably just move over the MSNBC with a raise.
David

I always thought CNN was about total government control. They mush have recently realized anarchy sells more papers (although nothing will help CNN). Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

One wonders WHERE they dig these twirps up from?

I deleted the Communist News Network long before I heard of piers. Main reasons were wolf blitzer and that other nutcase--anderson cooper. Im glad Lou Dobbs left them years ago. Dobs was the only reason I watched hat channel at all.

I can answer that one. They are found all over the country, being grown at at our colleges and universities. Even at backwater state colleges like the one down the street.

I hear ya. I ran into many of the brainwashed who attended UT in Austin when I lived there for a VERY painful 20 months.

So far, CNN has said nothing. I suspect she bobbled the words she intended to say.

She's very experienced, has done a lot of high profile interviews and there's no reason to think she's some nutjob.

I can't imagine what she might gain by intentionally uttering this stupidity. Only way to go is down, isn't it?

But she still said these words and neither she nor CNN has said doodly.

I suspect we'll get some sort of apology tomorrow.

Bob

EDITED TO ADD: She just announced she'd misspoke. Seemed to be genuine (but I can't always read someone's heart, either). I'd give her another chance just because she's, as far as I know, never done or said anything remotely as stupid as this before.

Airhead.

This is just as dumb as our politicians' urge to label everyone who attacks us as "cowardly".

Both bravery and cowardice are terms of character completely inapplicable to people who are obviously deranged, whether for psychiatric, religious or other reasons.

But that distinction is probably too sophisticated for people who get paid to fill minutes with hot air. And with all due respect, if you read any cunning attempt to foster anti-police sentiment or even any politics into this, you give her way too much credit.

It's called a Freudian Slip. Other people call it letting the mask slip.

Either way, she unintentionally spoke her true feelings.

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Can open, worms everywhere.

As usual I'm confused. What the reporter said might be considered brave. In any normal setting, she'd lose her job for it.

And I'm even more confused at the meaning of brave. It seems our posters here feel its context sensitive. If someone did something or acted in a way that could have caused their own demise its only brave if the person here rating that action agrees with their cause. Otherwise its cowardly to them, so its how they want to define it.

Going back to WWII the actions of kamakazi pilots was reported as cowardly. They gave up their own life to hopefully, for them, sink an allied ship. But at the battle of Midway, one of our land based pilots rammed his plane into a Japanese cruiser and was considered a hero for it. And during 9/11 the hijackers were considered cowards for taking the planes into the world trade center. Of course for their actions they were considered hero's by their supporters.

It seems to me we have a definition problem with our English language.

In the context of this thread, I have no idea how the attack should be considered. It was either a cowardly act by a traitor against the police, or the guy was a hero for trying it. Just because you don't sympathize with the motives of the perpetrator doesn't really change the act itself. It took the same amount of courage either way, its just that you either like or don't like the motives.

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Dick Burg

Whether a person agrees or disagrees with what the commentator said is beside the point.

I had the opportunity of being "behind the microphone" in the broadcasting business for three short years. But during that brief time, one thing was drilled into me quite pointedly. And that is the role of a newscaster is to state the news. Period. You let the listener form an opinion. The newscaster should not give an opinion one way or the other. The news is supposed to be impartial.

I think she may have forgotten that basic rule of broadcast journalism. Personally, to make that type of error on national news is something that warrants more discipline than the basic "slap on the wrist." She definitely knows better...or should know better. That's a rookie mistake and she should either be dismissed or at least sent back to work either writing copy for the newscasters or making coffee for the boss.

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Pack light and cinch tight.

This, I think, is the central problem with what's called the "24-hour news cycle". The old-fashioned rule you refer to worked as long as all you do is come on the air periodically and state what happened, and when you've done that, you shut up and play music or whatever until something new happens, or until your next scheduled broadcast. When I grew up, we watched the evening news at 6 pm or so, and found out what happened the previous 24 hours.

But when stations started making the news their exclusive program, they collided with the reality that the world doesn't correspond to production planning, and the babbling airhead was born who needs to fill time that somehow facts can't fill at the moment, plus they needed to look good rather than be smart, because viewer were going to stare at them for extended periods of time.

And then of course "opinion news" emerged, and MSNBC and Fox News, and talk radio, made a point of putting political slants on whatever they report, and your principle of "just stating the news" is looking charmingly quaint these days. I for one miss it. But the owners of the media don't seem to think that that's where the ratings are.

The "24 hour news cycle" is the genesis of the misspeaks, factual errors, opinions creeping in, etc. And it's not just a function of the news business.

The financial markets have the same problems. You can see the same issues with Fox Business, CNBC, Bloomberg, et al. The reporters are in such a hurry to get everything they can into their 30, 60, 90 second reports, that the facts get misreported, the actual stories become nearly unintelligible. They speak so fast, that they're nearly incoherent.

In earlier times, the financial markets closed, and with that, the overnight analysis began. Financial managers and analysts could digest results, and make intelligent decisions based on the most recent history. They then had until the next day to formulate a strategy for transactions.

Today, there's no deep analysis. It's all surface, and the managers and traders have turned to computer programs and simulations to make decisions. One only needs to look at what happened in 2008. Companies became overly dependent on programmed trading. When the actual traders started to hedge their trades, they ran afoul of the programs, and the markets took a major fall.

You can see the same thing on the news channels. People talk about how good Shep Smith is, but he gets caught up in the editorializing on his show, and it's supposed to be "hard news". We know that Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and others, are news analysts, and we expect to see their opinions in their shows, but the hard news programs are infected with "oped-itis".

When I read the part "......and crazy as well" I figured/hopped she ment to say it took balls (or a TV friendly version of that) to attack a police station.

Having the "balls" to that and courage are not interchangeable in this instance

That's the trouble with 24 hour news. They have to fill the time and in doing so, often times say stupid things that are lapped up by the great unwashed.

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Eccentric old coot

She is no different then an actor reading script .. her's are just on a tele prompter ..

Blame the producer and writers .. they are the ones who wrote it .. many time News men/women don't even realize what they are saying .. They just read what is put in front of them !!

Just read a news story on yahoo--supposedly she has now said: ""Im sorry.""

And that is suppose to fix everything. Not in my book..... spoken and heard.

News reporting is not designed to relay the days events but rather to sell advertising, that pays the bills, and far right or far left sells ad time. It is not about information it is about the dollar. It is a business. Don't drink the cool aid.

Whitfield now says she "misspoke".



Yea, that makes it all better.

I used to work with a Viet Nam vet Marine named Martie Lee about 35 years ago. Martie didn't say much but one of his favorite sayings was "Sorry is a sorry word".

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'Merica!

And its a word Whitfield did not use. She simply says she misspoke. End. No apology.