Unplugged: False CNN Report Sign of Jumpy Nation

By: Michelle Levi
Topics: Washington Unplugged

Washington got a stir this morning over a CNN report on a Coast Guard operation that later turned out to be wrong.

"In many ways we are still in a hair trigger," eight years after 9/11, CBS News correspondent Bob Orr said on today's "Washington Unplugged."

"That played out this morning when CNN erroneously reported that the Coast Guard had fired on a small boat on the Potomac River...near where the president was commemorating the attack on the Pentagon," he said.

Orr said that "in response to the reporting, flights were stopped at Reagan National Airport, FBI agents went running out the door and security command centers around D.C. snapped to attention."

"CNN made a mistake...it was all a training exercise. No shots were fired," he explained before showing some video of CNN's reporting this morning.

After the incident, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said "we're safer" because of such exercises, adding that he does not question law enforcement efforts to keep the city safe.

In a shot at the media outlets that initially reported the incident, he said, "before reporting things, checking would be good."

"It appears as if a lot of this could have been avoided," said Gibbs.

Watch the segment above, along with an interview with former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Coast Guard's "Bang, Bang" Caused Uproar

"Washington Unplugged" appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.

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by pensacola8-2009 September 11, 2009 8:08 PM EDT: Jumpy nation? More like jumpy drama addicts!!!

If news media services make it their job to feed drama addicts, then they serve them drama every opportunity.

If news media services just reported events, it would spin a difference way and produce different results.

Media manipulation is the stuff of propaganda services and hype found in places where truth is not readily released to the masses.

It dismays me to know that after winning the cold war in 1989, the USA can't stay out of wars and is still afflicted by a propaganda media culture.; Reply to this comment

by anonymous010 September 11, 2009 7:58 PM EDT

Ugh, CBS is doing the same thing by reporting that the "nation" is jumpy. No, CBS, we're not jumpy. YOU are jumpy. Nobody I know was talking about this supposed incident or freaking out about it - I didn't even hear a mention on the radio. You should be more careful about what you say, because with this article you are just as guilty as CNN.

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by nomealaska September 11, 2009 8:24 PM EDT: I agree. It is the news media that is anxious and jumpy. Reporters don't want to miss the next big story, so they jump on whatever they can get. Then they sensationalise the facts so the story really is big. Most of the stories published by the larger news outlets are just bu**sh** filler pieces, just to keep web content fresh and attractive. This is the fourth story regarding this USCG training today - just from CBS. That is bad, considering the story wasn't a story to start with.

Get your reporters out there and get some real news! No 999 babies, hermaphrodites, or John & Kate stories please.....


by PVperson2 September 11, 2009 6:15 PM EDT: You would expect this kind of knee-jerk overreaction from Fox but not from CNN.; Reply to this comment


by BIGFUDGE62 September 11, 2009 4:52 PM EDT: Since valuable taxpayer dollars were expended due to CNN falsely reporting this story for ratings. I feel CNN should reimburse the taxpayers. It's no different when a person makes a fake 911 emergency phone call and gets fined.; Reply to this comment


by Livinontheedge September 11, 2009 4:51 PM EDT: The only way this could have been real is if the far right terrorists and militia groups planned one of their assaults on the government and trierd to blow up the president as he crossed the bridge going back to the white house.; Reply to this comment