On Fri, Jun 29, 2012 at 1:24 PM, Joe Hass <[email protected]> wrote:
> Just to clarify within the thread what happened based on the article > and other readings.: > (SNIP) - There was a CNN producer, Bill Mears, sitting in the courtroom. > - Chief Justice John Roberts began reading the majority opinion out > loud (this was likely not a surprise to anyone). At this point, there > was no written copy of the opinion available. > - When Roberts read that the commerce clause wasn't covering this, > Mears determined *on his own* that the decision would be to overturn. > - Mears communicated to Kate Bolden (the talent outside) that the > decision was to overturn. > - What Mears didn't realize was that Roberts would say a couple > paragraphs later that there was a *different* rule that would allow > the law to be upheld. (SNIP) > > I agree that CNN completely cocked this up. But the direct blame lies > very squarely on Bill Mears jumping the gun, with plenty of indirect > blame coming from the decision to put him in the courtroom instead of > someone with a strong legal background, even if that meant the > analysis would be delayed. > All this is my understanding as well - but it does not change anything. Instead of waiting to read to page 4, Mears only had to wait to listen to the Chief Justice read to page 4, which seems even easier. The New York Times was only too happy to explain that they avoided making the same mistake because they spent a week identifying all of the permutations of the possible decision, and emphasized to everyone covering the story the importance of waiting to make sure they got it right. The NYT guy in the courtroom did not flash the wrong conclusion because he was well aware that the White House had made two arguments for the law, and the commerce clause was only one. So their guy waited 1.5 minutes to hear what the opinion had to say about the other argument If we want to assume that the pretty face actually reporting things on camera is of course not responsible for anything she says (which is of course true, but another problem), we can still hold the entire CNN decision-making team responsible for not being adequately prepared prior to the event (and, as Stewart pointed out so well last night, CNN has been pimping this story for a couple of weeks, so there really is no excuse for them not getting their shit together). I also hold Blitzer responsible. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
