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Nov 27, 2005 
Author: 
A CNN switchboard operator was fired over the holiday — after the operator claimed the ‘X’ placed over Vice President’s Dick Cheney’s face was “free speech!”
“We did it just to make a point. Tell them to stop lying, Bush and Cheney,” the CNN operator said to a caller. “Bring our soldiers home.”
Laurie Goldberg, Senior Vice President for Public Relations with CNN, said in a release:
“A Turner switchboard operator was fired today after we were alerted to a conversation the operator had with a caller in which the operator lost his temper and expressed his personal views — behavior that was totally inappropriate. His comments did not reflect the views of CNN. We are reaching out to the caller and expressing our deep regret to her and apologizing that she did not get the courtesy entitled to her. ”
At first, I was very reluctant to claim that the “X” that was flashed over Vice President Cheney’s face during a recent speech, was anything but an equipment malfunction. Having done video editing when I was in college, I am familiar with various forms of cues that are used to key up segments of video. I did not want to jump the gun and claim CNN was up to the typical tactics of the current liberals in charge, in D.C..
What bugs me the most about this, is not the act itself, but the typical interpretation of “free speech” by most of this country. We live in a country where you can stand up, and say “I do not agree with the President”, and I respect that right. Where I believe that right ends, is when you express those feelings in a forum where you 1)cause actions in response to your speech, that cause someone harm, or 2)when those beliefs are forced upon an audience that is captive, or unsuspecting. While you are capable of changing the channel, one doesn’t expect a media mogul such as CNN, to air a personal political grievance such as this, so it is in one way or another, being forced upon a captive audience and therefore inappropriate.
I thank CNN and it’s staff, for taking such action against this individual. Before you assume “the worst”, I would have the same opinion, had this been 1998, and this was VP Al Gore.
