Reply #12: No, all the dumb-asses at CNN needed to do is ask a scanner enthusiast and they'd [View All]

discover that the Coast Guard conducts a variant of these training exercises FOUR TIMES EACH WEEK.

They only called one contact at the Coast Guard and didn't even tell them that they saw "no visuals" but were basing their reporting ON NATIONAL TELEVISION based only on "scanner chatter."

That's UN-SAT. And based on CNN going NATIONAL, the other agencies were alerted.

IF I were the journalist and received a non-confirmation of a training exercise from some mid-level employee at the Coast Guard, if I THEN told them that "I was going national" because some scanner traffic conveyed that shots were fired, you'd damn well bet they'd kick it up to a higher level and confirm this ROUTINE (4x/week) training exercise.

However, the fact that someone transmitted the words "Bang! Bang!" before the report that shots were fired SHOULD have been one big RED FLAG that this was, in fact, a training exercise. At the very least, the foregoing transmission would caution a journalist with one shred of professional integrity to get firm confirmation before frightening the FBI, secret service, etc. which had no particular need to know. :crazy:


I'm truly saddened that Rachel got "it wrong" tonight on judging this incident.

CNN - The most INCOMPETENT name in Journalism.