Staging the News…

June 2, 2006 in Media

THE bitterness between ratings rivals Channel 7 and Channel 9 escalated after Nine's Today program yesterday was accused of setting up a shot to make a situation in East Timor look more dangerous than it was.

Channel 7 spokesman Simon Francis later sent to the media a clip of the segment, which aired yesterday morning.It shows host Jessica Rowe interviewing East Timor taskforce commanding officer Brigadier Michael Slater.

"I'm wondering how you feel about your safety given that you've got armed guards there standing behind you, armed soldiers," Rowe says.

"Jessica, I feel quite safe, yes," Brigadier Slater says. "But not because I've got these armed soldiers behind me that were put there by your stage manager here to make it look good."

Full Story Here

Perhaps Channel 9's News Producer was an understudy of Mary Mapes of CBS's 60 Minutes.

Michelle Malkin has More Here