CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield said on-air on Sunday that she “misspoke” when describing a gunman who attacked a police headquarters in Dallas as “very courageous and brave, if not crazy as well.”
Whitefield made the comment on Saturday while covering James Boulware’s attack on the cops, which ended in his death by sniper fire.
“It was very courageous and brave, if not crazy as well, to open fire on the police headquarters, and now you have this scene, this police standoff,” she said.
On Sunday, CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter called the statement “outrageous” and “shocking” and that it generated outrage online among people who think “channels like CNN take an anti-police tone.”
At the end of a segment later Sunday, she addressed her comments.
“I misspoke, and in no way believe the gunman was courageous, nor brave,” she said.
Watch the clip:
Well, she could not say “ballsy” on network news. But words like brazen or audacious might have been a better choice. But she did qualify it as crazy, not sure why this is such a big deal. I would not call what she said “outrageous” or “shocking”.
This is the problem with live BREAKING NEWS coverage: The news readers think they have to talk the entire time. Non-stop talk leads to verbal diarrhea.
Sometimes I’ve wondered why we all see courage as an absolutely positive ideal…too often I end up equating it with stupid.
Unfortunately, that’s what the whole news cycle has become. Rather than trying to cover as much news as possible, the networks talk and talk and talk and never bother to actually say anything.
QuoteFix:
There’s a paycheck at stake for chrissake!
jw1