Interviewing Terrorists

Why do reporters insist on interviewing terrorists in order to convey a “balanced” viewpoint? CNN is up today with a story about an abortion law in Oklahoma that would put specifics about each woman who has an abortion online. They quote the Center for Reproductive Rights and the legislator who drafted the bill. So far so good. But then they throw in a quote from Operation Rescue “President” Troy Newman. And now we’re interviewing the moral equivalent of the Taliban.

Imagine an al Qaeda terrorist has just hit a local mall with a bomb. TV news crews arrive. They interview the victims and they interview police. But then, the reporter includes a soundbite from the head of the Taliban. The man had nothing to do with the act but pontificates on why terrorists should be allowed to bomb malls if they want to. Shocks the conscience, no?

That is what we have in the abortion “debate.” Troy Newman has been connected in court documents to the man who admits to shooting and killing Dr. George Tiller in the sanctuary of his church. The cell phone number of Operation Rescue’s “spokesperson” Sheryl Sullinger, a convicted clinic bomber, was found in the man’s car. This is a violent organization who made the information of where Dr. Tiller went to church publicly available on its website for “purely informational purposes.” They put the blood in the water and then released the sharks then claim no responsibility after the fact. And these are the people CNN is interviewing.

Put another way, this is akin to interviewing the head of the KKK to find out what he thinks about court ordered desegregation. Women are exercising a constitutionally protected right and they’re being terrorized and CNN’s response is to interview the terrorists. How many more people have to die before the media stops pretending like these people are legitimate? Enough is enough.