Disclosure, Disclosure, Disclosure .....

Last night, Chris at TVNewser posted this about what he called "Another Disclosure Debacle for CNN" ..... when a member of the CNN/YouTube debate audience (General Keith Kerr, US Army, retired) asked Republican candidates about the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

It seems Kerr is connected with the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton ..... "Apparently there was a press release from some six months ago," CNN moderator Anderson Cooper is quoted in the TVNewser post. "Hillary Clinton office saying that [Kerr] had been named to some steering committee. We don't know if he's still on it. We're trying to find out that information. Certainly had we had that information we would have acknowledged that in using his question, if we had used it at all."

The story has since been picked up by several news organizations, including the New York Post, FOX News and the Los Angeles Times.

All of this comes a little over a month after the fake news conference held by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which, the AP reports, "was not the first time a Homeland Security public affairs official has acted like a reporter by asking questions during a briefing."

The burden, ultimately, falls on journalists, who must research their stories, their subjects and their sources even more carefully (especially in situations such as this debate, where there was plenty of lead time between receipt of the general's question, and its use in last night's program), and fully disclose what their research has revealed.

Of course, we could ask government officials and politcal candidates to deal more honestly and openly with the press and the public ..... (dope slap) ..... I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me, there .....

UPDATE: TVNewser offers this sampling of reactions to the story. While all take CNN to task, some are strong, while others are modest. Perhaps the zaniest is this one from blogger Michelle Malkin.