- Dear CNN,
-
- Well, the week is over -- and still no apology, no retraction,
no correction of your glaring mistakes.
-
- I bet you thought my dust-up with Wolf Blitzer was just
a cool ratings coup, that you really wouldn't have to correct the false
statements you made about "Sicko." I bet you thought I was just
going to go quietly away.
-
- Think again. I'm about to become your worst nightmare.
'Cause I ain't ever going away. Not until you set the record straight,
and apologize to your viewers. "The Most Trusted Name in News?"
I think it's safe to say you can retire that slogan.
-
- You have an occasional segment called "Keeping Them
Honest." But who keeps you honest? After what the public saw with
your report on "Sicko," and how many inaccuracies that report
contained, how can anyone believe anything you say on your network? In
the old days, before the Internet, you could get away with it. Your victims
had no way to set the record straight, to show the viewers how you had
misrepresented the truth. But now, we can post the truth -- and back it
up with evidence and facts -- on the web, for all to see. And boy, judging
from the mail both you and I have been receiving, the evidence I have posted
on my site about your "Sicko" piece has led millions now to question
your honesty.
-
- I won't waste your time rehashing your errors. You know
what they are. What I want to do is help you come clean. Admit you were
wrong. What is the shame in that? We all make mistakes. I know it's hard
to admit it when you've screwed up, but it's also liberating and cathartic.
It not only makes you a better person, it helps prevent you from screwing
up again. Imagine how many people will be drawn to a network that says,
"We made a mistake. We're human. We're sorry. We will make mistakes
in the future -- but we will always correct them so that you know you can
trust us." Now, how hard would that really be?
-
- As you know, I hold no personal animosity against you
or any of your staff. You and your parent company have been very good to
me over the years. You distributed my first film, "Roger & Me"
and you published "Dude, Where's My Country?" Larry King has
had me on twice in the last two weeks. I couldn't ask for better treatment.
-
- That's why I was so stunned when you let a doctor who
knows a lot about brain surgery -- but apparently very little about public
policy -- do a "fact check" story, not on the medical issues
in "Sicko," but rather on the economic and political information
in the film. Is this why there has been a delay in your apology, because
you are trying to get a DOCTOR to say he was wrong? Please tell him not
to worry, no one is filing a malpractice claim against him. Dr. Gupta does
excellent and compassionate stories on CNN about people's health and how
we can take better care of ourselves. But when it came time to discuss
universal health care, he rushed together a bunch of sloppy -- and old
-- research. When his producer called us about his report the day before
it aired, we sent to her, in an email, all the evidence so that he wouldn't
make any mistakes on air. He chose to ignore ALL the evidence, and ran
with all his falsehoods -- even though he had been given the facts a full
day before! How could that happen? And now, for 5 days, I have posted on
my website, for all to see, every mistake and error he made.
-
- You, on the other hand, in the face of this overwhelming
evidence and a huge public backlash, have chosen to remain silent, probably
praying and hoping this will all go away.
-
- Well it isn't. We are now going to start looking into
the veracity of other reports you have aired on other topics. Nothing you
say now can be believed. In 2002, the New York Times busted you for bringing
celebrities on your shows and not telling your viewers they were paid spokespeople
for the pharmaceutical companies. You promised never to do it again. But
there you were, in 2005, talking to Joe Theismann, on air, as he pushed
some drug company-sponsored website on prostate health. You said nothing
about about his affiliation with GlaxoSmithKline.
-
- Clearly, no one is keeping you honest, so I guess I'm
going to have to do that job, too. $1.5 billion is spent each year by the
drug companies on ads on CNN and the other four networks. I'm sure that
has nothing to do with any of this. After all, if someone gave me $1.5
billion, I have to admit, I might say a kind word or two about them. Who
wouldn't?!
-
- I expect CNN to put this matter to rest. Say you're sorry
and correct your story -- like any good journalist would.
-
- Then we can get back to more important things. Like a
REAL discussion about our broken health care system. Everything else is
a distraction from what really matters.
-
- Yours,
- Michael Moore
- mmflint@aol.com
- www.michaelmoore.com
-
- P.S. If you also want to apologize for not doing your
job at the start of the Iraq War, I'm sure most Americans would be very
happy to accept your apology. You and the other networks were willing partners
with Bush, flying flags all over the TV screens and never asking the hard
questions that you should have asked. You might have prevented a war. You
might have saved the lives of those 3,610 soldiers who are no longer with
us. Instead, you blew air kisses at a commander in chief who clearly was
making it all up. Millions of us knew that -- why didn't you? I think you
did. And, in my opinion, that makes you responsible for this war. Instead
of doing the job the founding fathers wanted you to do -- keeping those
in power honest (that's why they made it the FIRST amendment) -- you and
much of the media went on the attack against the few public figures like
myself who dared to question the nightmare we were about to enter. You've
never thanked me or the Dixie Chicks or Al Gore for doing your job for
you. That's OK. Just tell the truth from this point on.
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