It was stupid of the Coast Guard to hold training exercises on 9-11 without taking measures to prevent the media from drawing the wrong conclusions. But ultimately, the trigger-happy press gets the blame. It is their job to double check a "story" and prevent false alarms reporting. CNN in it's rush to get the story first took the irresponsible step of reporting something as fact when it never happened. This is a major scandal. But the mainstream press doesn't expose the press. They admit some culpability but then try to blame the government, thus making them a co-equal culprit. This incident just shows that we all exist just so the press can get it's story, no matter how they go about it. The Coast Guard will learn from this mistake. The press will not.
CNN has responded to critics of its decision this morning to report that the Coast Guard had fired 10 rounds at a suspicious boat in the Potomac River.
It later became clear that CNN had based the report on a radio transmission of a training exercise, and that no shots had ever been fired.
CNN said in its statement that staffers had been monitoring law enforcement activity when it heard a Coast Guard transmission that a boat had breached a security zone on the Potomac, near the Pentagon.
The network said the staffers contacted a Coast Guard spokeswoman, who "said she was unaware of any activity taking place on the Potomac River."
"After hearing a further radio transmission about 10 rounds being expended, and after reviewing video of rapid movement by Coast Guard vessels as the President's motorcade crossed the Memorial Bridge, CNN reported the story," the network said. "Simultaneously, during a second phone call, the Coast Guard spokeswoman informed us that its National Command Center and other command posts knew nothing about any activity in the area."
CNN went on to say that not reporting the story would have been "irresponsible."
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