William
Donohue, president of the Catholic League
for Religious and Civil Rights, stated
in an article, posted today on the organization's
Web site, that "the CNN documentary,
'What the Pope Knew,' which aired Sept.
25, deserves a response."
"From
top to bottom, what CNN did was the
televised version of what the New York
Times did in print form earlier in the
year," he stated.
"The
goal was to tarnish the image of Pope
Benedict XVI, making him out to be a
co-conspirator in the scandal,"
Donohue said. "Though it came up
empty handed with proof of his culpability,
there was enough innuendo to convict
Snow White."
Drawing
on the facts of history, Donohue offered
a rebuttal on CNN's claim that the Pope
was guilty of "foot-dragging and,
perhaps, obstruction."
"Nowhere
in the program is there any evidence
that the Pope was guilty of obstruction
of justice," Donohue said.
He
continued: "This is a serious charge
-- the most serious made in the course
of the documentary. Yet to throw this
out, without ever producing evidence
to substantiate it, is malicious.
"It
won't cut it to say that he was 'perhaps'
guilty of obstruction. CNN intentionally
planted this seed and never explicitly
addressed the subject of obstruction
of justice again."
Innuendo
In
a similar article, posted on the Our
Sunday Visitor Web site, Greg Erlandson
and Matthew Bunson, authors of the book
"Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual
Abuse Crisis: Working for Reform and
Renewal," also analyzed the CNN
production from the perspective of their
research.
The
authors acknowledged the "truly
sad interviews with victims who recounted
shameful incidents of abuse," but
added that in the CNN program they were
"coaxed to link them to Pope Benedict."
"At
each turn in the story, CNN avoided
shedding real light on the incidents,
but instead used generalizations and
innuendo to suggest that Ratzinger was
insensitive to the plight of the victims,"
the article protested.
It
affirmed that the "most compelling"
parts of the television production "were
the conversations with the victims."
"To
hear them describe their shame, to see
their anger all these years later at
what priests did to them, is to be reminded
yet again that terrible crimes were
done and many lives were damaged, even
ruined," the authors said. "That
fact no one can deny."
They
stated, "It is unfortunate that,
even in the television wasteland of
weekend evening cable, CNN did not see
fit to make a real contribution to a
better understanding of the crisis."
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On
the Net:
William
Donohue article: http://www.catholicleague.org/responsetocnn.php
Greg
Erlandson and Matthew Bunson article:
http://www.osv.com/PopeBenedictXVIandtheSexualAbuseCrisisBlog/tabid/8019/entryid/73/CNNs-missed-opportunity.aspx