On the May 19 edition of Fox News' Fox News Watch, Newsday columnist James P. Pinkerton asserted that, during its coverage of Rev. Jerry Falwell's May 15 death, CNN featured "a picture of Falwell and [Adolf] Hitler together" as "kind of their idea of what he [Falwell] ought to be." When host Eric Burns asked Pinkerton what CNN "sa[id] when they ran the picture," Pinkerton responded that "[t]hey didn't," adding, "[A] picture is worth a million words." Pinkerton also said, falsely, that the image was a "still" of "Falwell and Hitler together." In fact, the image to which Pinkerton referred appeared in archived footage of a demonstration in which protesters held placards featuring the faces of Falwell, Hitler, and other prominent political figures -- each emblazoned with the word "GUILTY." CNN aired the video as part of a broad segment on Falwell's supporters and opponents. CNN did not, as Pinkerton suggested, air photographs of Falwell alongside those of Hitler, in an attempt to equate Falwell with the former leader of the Third Reich.
Sometimes I fear that honest debate is dead in this country.
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