Ampol Flash -- 10/22/2000 9:50PM
CNN Censors Flynt Charges From
"Official" Crossfire Transcript
by Dave "Doctor" Gonzo

Sunday, October 22, 2000 -- NEW YORK (AmpolNS) -- Hats off to
two astute American Politics Journal readers.

Within minutes of each other, they emailed our editors this
evening with the news that they had discovered that CNN's 
"official" transcript of the Friday, Oct. 20th broadcast of
Crossfire at
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0010/20/cf.00.html
[NOTE: the above page was removed from CNN's server sometime
on October 22nd] 
had been -- well, for lack of more polite term, redacted.

Missing from the transcript was the following exchange between
resident Crossfire conservative Bob Novak and one of their
guests, publisher Larry Flynt. Note the irony of Bob Novak's
comment concerning CNN never censoring its guests... also, 
please note that the source for the transcript which follows
is not CNN but our own indefatigable staffer Liz Callahan,
who transcribed the exchange from a videotape of the
original live CNN broadcast as seen in near-real time on Time
Warner Cable in Manhattan. 

-----STILL ON THE CNN SITE [IN THEIR SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT
TRANSCRIPTION]-------------------------------------------------

Ms. [Donna Rice] Hughes: ...But the commission did hear
testimony from schools and libraries who had effectively used
technologies with their acceptable use policies, and that it
did work well, Bill, so you'll have different viewpoints on
that.

-----BELOW IS REMOVED------------------------------------------

Mr. Novak: Mr. Flynt, NEVER let it be said that we CENSOR any of
our guests here on CROSSFIRE -- and you said you wanted to talk
about the election. Tell me what you wanted to say.

Mr. Flynt: Well, during the impeachment debacle, we did an
investigation which resulted in the resignation of Bob
Livingston and others, and we have continued this investigation
-- and for eight months we've been looking into George W. Bush's
background.

And we've found out in the early 1970s, he was involved in an
abortion in Texas -- and I just think that it's sad that the
mainstream media, who's [sic] aware of this story, won't ask him
that question, when they were able to ask him the drug question
without any proof at all -- and we've got all kinds of proof on
this issue.

Mr. Novak: Well, you're...

Mr. Flynt: You know, the guy ADMITTED he was a drunk for twenty
years, and if the abortion issue is true, then that puts him
lower on the morality scale than Bill Clinton!

Mr. Novak: Mr. Flynt, you said IF it's true and you have no
proof of that. I gather you are a very strong...

Mr. Flynt [smiling, mind you]: THE HELL WE DON'T HAVE PROOF!

-----CNN TRANSCRIPT RESUMES HERE-------------------------------

Mr. Novak: Sir, I gather you're a very strong Gore supporter.
Is that correct?

Mr. Flynt: I'll vote for the lesser of the two evils -- I don't
like either one of them!

Mr. Press: All right! Larry Flynt -- a man who speaks his word.
But we remind you, they are Larry Flynt's words and not ours.
Larry Flynt, thank you very, very much for joining us...

-----------------------------------------------------

Gosh -- we really, really hate to break the news to Mr. Novak,
but a comparison of CNN's "official" circumcised transcript to
the labors of our own Ms. Callahan are at somewhat strong odds
with his assertion that "NEVER let it be said that we CENSOR
any of our guests here on CROSSFIRE."

Because CNN did.

But we're more than glad to make sure that the full record of
Flynt's hard-hitting allegation remains available to the
public despite CNN's attempt to muzzle Mr. Flynt.

'Nuff said.