Yet Another CBS News Distortion

Here's an interesting item from LittleGreenFootballs.com regarding another distortion of the truth by CBS news. This one involves reporting on the damage to coral reefs as a result of the tsunamis:

CBS NEWS DISTORTION
To those of you who saw Ocean Rover in the CBS News report about coral damage: do not believe what they are telling you! We are furious at CBS. One of their producers contacted us and asked if we could help them get to the Similan Islands to report on coral damage. They assured us the piece would be “fair & balanced.”

We did everything we could to assist the CBS news team and they spend half a day filming and interviewing people on board Ocean Rover. One of our clients kindly gave them his underwater video footage for use during the broadcast. CBS promised our client that his footage would be used in a responsible manner.

Our Cruise Director Hans Tibboel described one specific divesite in Surin Island with the words: “it looked like a giant sandblaster was used”. Again, Hans was describing only one divesite and made positive remarks about the actual lack of damage at other places. Of course, the CBS editor used the “sandblast” soundbite and hardly anything else.

Footage was also arranged in a “before & after” method that is not consistent with the real situation. All the beautiful “before” footage shown by CBS was actually filmed AFTER the tsunami.

Somehow the media just cannot help themselves and turn everything into a gloom & doom story. CBS should be ashamed of what they did here. We have talked to their producer since but of course she blames the New York editor. This is the way the media works. The way the news piece came out is 100% the opposite of what was promised to us. We urge fellow dive operators to be very careful in dealing with the media. These people do not let scruples get in the way of a juicy story. Shameful!

The CBS piece is damaging to our reputation and business. It paints the wrong picture about the true level of coral damage in the Similans AND it makes our own website reports look like lies. All we can say is when you dive with us, you trust us with your lives. When you read our website, you can trust us to be truthful.

By the way, this blog started during the whole Rathergate faked memo scandal, and it's now been 107 days since CBS promised to release the report on the incident. They promised results in weeks, not months. The rumor on the web now is that the report may be released late Friday in the middle of all the Gonzalez confirmation hearings.