Noel Sheppard put out a June 25 NewsBusters post with the headline “Michelle Obama Tells CNN ‘Fortunately We Have Help From The Media’.” Sheppard’s first paragraph reads: “In today’s “Truer Words Might Never Have Been Spoken” segment, Michelle Obama told CNN’s Robyn Curnow Friday, ‘Fortunately we have help from the media.'”
It’s not until the ninth paragraph, after a transcript of the interview, that Sheppard admits the uncontroversial truth, which he still tries to portray as controversial:
Now, in fairness, she was talking about how the media handle her children.
Even so, could you imagine a Republican president’s wife saying, “Fortunately we have help from the media?”
On the other hand, you have to respect her for not only recognizing it, but actually saying it during an interview with CNN.
Makes you wonder how this didn’t end up on the cutting room floor.
You don’t, however, have to wonder why Sheppard chose to bury the full context of Obama’s statement and begin his post by making readers think it meant something different — it gives him another reason to bash the media, no matter how specious.