By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Politics Discussion - Fake news: shooting survivor tries to frame CNN

A student who lived through the recent school shooting in Parkland, Fla. has been accusing CNN of trying to put words in his mouth for a town hall session.  But his credibility took a hit when his father was caught lying to the press in order to bolster the case. 

Text below is from Tampa Bay, but their source seems to be Business Insider. 

http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/02/27/shooting-survivors-father-admits-email-changes-in-cnn-spat/

http://www.businessinsider.com/parkland-shooting-survivors-family-shops-doctored-cnn-emails-to-media-2018-2

The father of a Florida shooting survivor has acknowledged  he omitted words in an email he sent media outlets accusing CNN of using scripted remarks at a town hall on guns and school safety.

Dozens of conservative websites called the network's Feb. 21 town hall forum scripted after Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School junior Colton Haab skipped the event and said the network had told him what question to ask. The websites call it proof the forum was slanted against gun rights. President Donald Trump tweeted about it on Friday, saying "Just like so much of CNN, Fake News!"

CNN countered with a release of email exchanges between producer Carrie Stevenson, Colton Haab and his father Glenn and accused Glenn Haab of deliberately altering email sent to Fox News and the Huffington Post.

"It is unfortunate that an effort to discredit CNN and the town hall with doctored emails has taken any attention away from the purpose of the event," the network said in a statement.

Glenn Haab told the Associated Press he omitted some words from the email but said he didn't do it on purpose.

"There was nothing malicious behind it," he said.

In one exchange, 17-year-old Colton Haab proposes several questions to ask at the town hall, including one on whether to arm teachers. His father, a Republican gun owner, later emailed Stevenson a four-page document with a roughly 700-word speech and a series of questions he said Colton wanted to ask.

Stevenson told the father the additional language he proposed was "way too long" and Colton would need to stick to the question "that he submitted." The words "that he submitted" were left off the email sent to Fox News and Huffington Post.

CNN said Stevenson had discussed which one of Colton's several questions to ask at the forum and they mutually agreed on one using his own words and a statement he made during another television appearance.

Business Insider reported Friday evening that, according to CNN, a network producer agreed to let the younger Haab write and ask a question about arming teachers at the network's Wednesday town hall.
 But Haab’s father sent the network a long speech that he insisted his son read at the town hall. CNN, citing time constraints, told Glenn they needed Colton to stick with the question “that he submitted.”

When the elder Haab passed along the correspondence between his family and the network to media outlets, Business Insider reported, he omitted the key phrase, “that he submitted.”

The spat led to several conservative website stories accusing CNN of a pro-gun control bias.




Tag (courtesy of fkusumot): "Please feel free -- nay, I encourage you -- to offer rebuttal."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
My advice to fanboys: Brag about stuff that's true, not about stuff that's false. Predict stuff that's likely, not stuff that's unlikely. You will be happier, and we will be happier.

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Sen. Pat Moynihan
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The old smileys: ; - ) : - ) : - ( : - P : - D : - # ( c ) ( k ) ( y ) If anyone knows the shortcut for , let me know!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I have the most epic death scene ever in VGChartz Mafia.  Thanks WordsofWisdom! 

Around the Network

To be honest, I am not sure how guilty the kid is in all this. He may have genuinely thought that CNN was asking him to deliver a speech. Then when they told him to slim it down to a single question he felt like he was being censored. This would require the kid to be pretty dumb, but the speech he wanted to give doesn't convince me this is an unreasonable leap of logic.

But his dad is a giant douche. Caught red handed and he says "oh well yeah I edited it to fit my accusation but it wasn't done maliciously!" Take a look at where the cut is and tell me how it makes any sense whatsoever that he did it by accident. He even kept the period at the end of the sentence's second half that he cut! And even if the kid started out innocent he is guilty by going along with his dad's actions.



Tag (courtesy of fkusumot): "Please feel free -- nay, I encourage you -- to offer rebuttal."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
My advice to fanboys: Brag about stuff that's true, not about stuff that's false. Predict stuff that's likely, not stuff that's unlikely. You will be happier, and we will be happier.

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Sen. Pat Moynihan
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The old smileys: ; - ) : - ) : - ( : - P : - D : - # ( c ) ( k ) ( y ) If anyone knows the shortcut for , let me know!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I have the most epic death scene ever in VGChartz Mafia.  Thanks WordsofWisdom! 

Like anyone needed proof that the 'townhall' [in an arena?] was slanted against gun rights. Watch any 10 minute segment. And it was SOOO obvious the questions weren't written by students or parents. They are bullying a school shooting victim...how shameful.



Kids died in a school and people are arguing about words on an email or who is more against the idea of guns in schools...

Kids died lads, can't #fakenews that just deflect onto any other matter instead.



Why not check me out on youtube and help me on the way to 2k subs over at www.youtube.com/stormcloudlive

He shouldn't have lied. CNN has already discredited itself. They are no better than Ancient Aliens or a tabloid.



Around the Network

Good. This news will tied us over for another week to avoid talking about gun control.



If you demand respect or gratitude for your volunteer work, you're doing volunteering wrong.

Yeah, the gun nuts are trying the best they can to distract from the issue. It's never been pressed this much before and this isn't a fire they can easily douse this time. Nobody wants to take the guns away, just make them a little harder to obtain.



This is Trump 101 lie while accusing other people's of lying. The sad thing is most Fox viewers never saw  the retraction or didn't care about it. Trump will never retract or correct his statements about it.

Last edited by JustcallmeRiff - on 04 March 2018