FINALLY! White House complains about edit of Bush interview
May 19, 6:09 PM (ET)
By DAVID BAUDER
apnews.myway.com
NEW YORK (AP) - The White House on Monday called on NBC News to set the record straight on "deceitful" editing of an interview with President Bush, in which correspondent Richard Engel asks whether comments about the president of Iran were directed at Barack Obama.
Bush aides were angered by how the president's answer was portrayed when Engel questioned him about his condemnation of "the false comfort of appeasement" in an address last week to the Israeli Knesset. NBC stood by its treatment of the interview Monday.
Bush had mentioned the president of Iran in his speech, and said: "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along."
Obama's campaign considered that statement an attack on him, which the White House has denied.
Engel asked Bush if he was referring to Obama in his speech.
As it appeared on "Nightly News" Sunday and the "Today" show Monday, Bush's response was: "You know, my policies haven't changed, but evidently the political calendar has ... And when, you know, a leader of Iran says that they want to destroy Israel, you've got to take those words seriously."
But the White House said NBC edited out these words that Bush said between those two sentences: "People need to read the speech. You didn't get it exactly right, either. What I said was that we need to take the words of people seriously."
Bush counsel Ed Gillespie, in a letter to NBC News President Steve Capus, said that "this deceitful editing to further a media-manufactured storyline is utterly misleading and irresponsible." He asked that the network air Bush's response in full on the two programs.
NBC countered by saying the unedited interview has been available since Sunday on the network's Web site, and that the reporting accurately reflects the interview.
"Just as the White House does not participate in the editorial process at the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal or USA Today, NBC News, as part of a free press in a free society, makes its own editorial decisions," NBC said in a statement.
The White House routinely pushes back against news stories it does not agree with by issuing "Setting The Record Straight" press releases.
But the one against NBC News stands out for its angry tone and its accusation that the news division deceptively and deceitfully edited the president's words.
It also came personally from Gillespie, one of the top figures in the White House and a veteran politico as former head of the Republican Party.
Gillespie brought up some other grievances, too, including NBC News coverage of the Iraq war and the nation's economic woes. The White House was not happy when NBC News decided to call the situation in Iraq a civil war and called attention to its decision.
And that wasn't all.
The White House didn't just send its letter of complaint to NBC. It blasted it out to every reporter who receives White House press releases and posted it prominently on the White House Web site.
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AP writer Ben Feller contributed to this report. |
