CNN Softballs Bob Murray...What about those documents?
By John Amato Tuesday Aug 21, 2007 5:12pm
This interview is one of the reasons why America is so uninformed about serious issues in our country. Kyra Phillips is really engaged in the Utah mining disaster and has a genuine passion about the story, but instead of asking the real questions to Murray about the dangerous mining conditions he promoted after he denied them---she treated him like a folk hero. The Huffington Post has more...
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Murray: A rumor was started by the United Mine Workers. It's false statements they have made. False statements from the beginning. But I've watched them for 50 years and they have preyed on the tragedy of miners and their families to put out false information to organize their union.
Murray always has the time to bash the United Mine Workers as much as he can and then he praises CNN for the wonderful job they are doing.
Again, why was this not included in CNN's coverage?
Robert Murray insists that his company did not change the mining plan at Crandall Canyon after purchasing a joint interest in the mine last August. But documents obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune clearly contradict Murray's assertion, and show that Murray's company sought and received approval from federal regulators to make a significant, and, experts say, risky change to the mining strategy...read on
Isn't that more important than trying to defend your coverage? I understand that there is great suffering in the lives of the families that have to deal with this nightmare and our hearts reach out to them, but when are we supposed to have serious conversations on serious issues?
Thanks to CNN for the transcript:
PHILLIPS: In no -- well, and I want to make something clear, because the media is getting a lot of heat. And I can tell you right now, as a journalist here at CNN and our entire news operation, in no way, shape, or form have we forgotten what each one of those miners has done. Not only the rescue workers, but the miners that are trapped in that mine. We realize after years of covering this story what miners go through and what they sacrifice to come home and support their families. So please understand that from us. So we are not criticizing what they go through on a daily basis. Now I want to ask you about you . . .
MURRAY: Kyra, I . . .
PHILLIPS: Yes?
MURRAY: I believe CNN has done an excellent job in this regard. I'm just asking for your understanding, ma'am, for the families of those who were killed and injured on August 16th, as well as those on August 6th. Thank you.
PHILLIPS: And, you know, Bob, it's understandable. It's never easy to lose a loved one or face something like this. I guess the saying goes, that you just learn how to deal with it, you never get over it.
But I've got to ask you about you. There have been times you haven't been able to come do a news conference. There's been talk about you might be struggling with a heart condition. That the pressure has become too much for you. I have to ask you, how are you doing and how are you holding up? There is a lot of pressure on you right now.
MURRAY: I've been at the mountain, Kyra, within hours of August 6th. I'll stay there until this is over. This is not about me. This is about the families of six trapped miners and the families of nine heroes. And I'll be fine. I'm doing fine.
PHILLIPS: So the next time we're going to hear from you, Bob, I'm guessing will be at the end of the day when you finish this final bore hole. Is that correct?
MURRAY: Ma'am, I don't really know. I think I'll give you a report this afternoon on what we find after we drop the camera in the number five hole. And in what the -- we find in the hole both on audio basis and a visual basis. But I want to schedule that conference in conjunction with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration as we've done faithfully heretofore.
PHILLIPS: Bob Murray, chairman of Murray Energy, co-owner of the Crandall Canyon Mine. I appreciate your time and just your honesty during this interview and for clarifying a lot of questions for us. I know that this is not going to stop at this point. Appreciate your time, Bob.
MURRAY: Thank you, ma'am.
(I edited out a few minutes in the middle of the interview because of its length)
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The strip mining robber baron gets the red carpet treatment on all the networks. These anchors need to quit their star f'ing
Thanks for the video clip, John, but now I have to go shower. Again.
there is soemthing very unnerving about this guy to me.... something you would feel in the presence of say Chaney, Novak or Rove
Be fair. Look closer. Is his the face of a lying greed-head? Boticelli could hardly have done justice to that man's transparent goodness. Shame on you, J.A.
This really takes the wind out of my sails. I try to turn anyone who will listen on to C&L, not only because I'm a liberal tree-hugging socialist, but because there is such good (journalism?) here. Thanks.
If you want to know what a typical 22%-er looks like, look at Murray.
Every time I hear this guy talk he attacks the workers and their union.
What a turd.
BoB, CNN and the republic nation grieves for you. And no member of the republic party will do a thing to harm you or any other mine manager/owner!
My uncle died in a mining accident. And while the CEO's parade around doing damage control and trying to say all the right things and deflecting blame off them and their company.... there are grieving families with lots of questions. It will be interesting to see just how much compensation Murray Energy is willing to dole out of its own coffers to compensate those families. Or is it only talk? Time will tell.
BoB... The rest of us wish to see you pay. To see you and your industry regulated! To see health care not only for the mine workers but for all citizens of the USA. But BoB... You initiated unsafe mining practices so you must personally pay. To make it easier the shareholders will be held to account as well.
Sleep well BoB.
Everyone should get on Netflix and rent "How Green Was My Valley". A bit fluffy in places, but the central story about miners unionizing is very powerful.
Plus, Roddy McDowell was so cute!
Frankly this whole mess is so tragic, I'm hesitant to say much..
But this guys been all over the news and it does start to look more like damage control as much as musings over whether or not the rescue will succeed or not...
I guess if his intent is purely based on trying to rescue those men, I can't argue with that intention. IF it's all about slamming unions and saving face and manipulation of the story to make himself look good... And given all the deaths already... AND especially if those stories about strategic business decisions he allegedly took that were designed to maximize profit at the expense of safety or the expense of implimenting safety protocols... Then I'd say he's just another old rich white fuck. The same kind who gives all us working stiff white guys a bad name... An asshole who needs ran out of Utah on a rail.....JD
you need to watch the news in europe about america if you want to know
what is really happening here and in the iraq war. they don't cover the
truth and give it to you in an adult format, not a candy coated bias.
CYA all the way. I normally don't entertain conspiracy theories, but I just can't help knock the feeling that he didn't do ALL he could to rescue those miners. Some guy handed the old geezer a dollar at the memorial and told him he was rescuing on the cheap. I just hope he didn't let those miners die just to cover up his malfeasance. Retreat mining.
Sorry to hear about your Uncle Moose. Murray is simply a greedy corporate wonk. He's full of hot air. It's been known that mine has been engaged in the practice of mining the pillars and retreat mining which as you know is dangerous especially in a mountain that is known to shift. He put his miners at risk over his own ego and greed and it caught up with him.
Think about it from an interviewers standpoint for ONCE. They give out easy questions because they HAVE to. Otherwise they'd have no guests. Would you rather these people not be interviewed at all, Mr. Amato?
Sure its more important than defending your coverage but that's what big media has become...A self perpetuating money machine that has to defend its bottom line....A big return to shareholders.
jbowm @ 17:
God. I just read this. Are you kidding? Laughable. Mr.jbowm, CNN shill.
In one of the early press conferences he was laissez-faire about the whole thing. I was shocked when I heard him off-handedly dismiss concern for the miners, stating that 'they've got enough food and water down there to last at least 7 days...I'm not worried' (paraphrased). He's a weasel.
jbowm @ 17:
Personally, I'd prefer NO guest instead of a lying SOB who is attempting to cover his ass.
Hoping that to see real news on CNN? Nice looking talking heads reading copy produced by agents of the good shepherds.
Its there to keep you sleeping. Sleep Sheeple, Sleep . . .
Johnny2Bad @ 18:
True...I remember an interview with Walter Cronkite some time back when he was talking
about the "good old days"...The news division was a distinct, seperate and independent
operation from other media departments; but when BIG Bus./Corp. got control and all
they think of is money and greed, they lumped all of the depts. together and have made
what we used to call "news" into entertainment..with whimps as newscasters.
Try renting Matewan or Harlan County USA, if you want to know more about the truth behind Big Coal and those who fought to unionize the mines.
Is Murray still spouting those lies about a "seismic event" (aka an earthquake) causing this disaster? Hey, Bob? That "event" was your mine caving in, because if the way you mined there. And for other reasons:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070822/ap_on_re_us/utah_mine_collapse_stick...
I fear the miners won't be found because Murray doesn't want evidence recovered that shows they were retreat mining or that the miners suffered, living for several agonizing days in the blackness until death came in a very cruel way. This really is about Murray covering his ass and denying that he was retreat mining.
On the first day of the disaster, he spoke about coal, cheap energy and people on fixed income! I could not believe the man.
jbowm @ 17:
I can't take much more of this.
BANG on the drill bit!
Let's get started!
CNN's Carol Costello seems to have taken on the role of personal public relations representative for the guy. I wouldn't be surprised if she shows up on his payroll soon.
Just another example of one corporate interest exchanging back rubs with another.
jbowm @ 17:
Actually yes. I'm sure that a representative from the UMW would have been more than willing to fill in for Mr. Murray. Too bad CNN isn't willing to give them an equal opportunity to have their say. I wonder why that would be?
Not really.
I understand that Canada has a much higher safety record in regards to mining than the United States. Will they ask this of Bob, before he has a heart attack thinking about his cash flow?
Snowball @ 31:
Absolutely. jbowm has very short sighted thinking. These people need CNN even more than CNN needs them. Even the president does. If news agencies actually stood up for journalism then these people would have no voice to slant the facts with and we would only be hearing from people with the goal of telling the truth rather than bloviating.
Imagine America today if politicians and capitalists couldn't get on TV unless they gave straight answers.
Virtually all in the media have been programmed by the repukes to catapult the propaganda.
Trust no one, except for the special few - Olberman, Stewart and Colbert (yes they are better newspeople than most in the MSM and on cable), Cafferty, Maher (when he is not too bitter), and maybe Dan Abrams (he is relatively new, but seems honest).
The mine disasters of the bush administration show again just how much damage incompetent bush picks can do. Time to impeach the whole lot of them,including gonzo - for sheer incompetence.
Kyra Phillips is hoping to get the Tony Snow gig.
She is already a war monger mouthpiece for Bush.
She the biggest soft ball thrower of all.
jack jett
Moose @ 10:
I am so sorry to hear about your uncle. Read this http://thepolicyroom.blogspot.com/2007/08/crandall-canyon-mining-disaste... to see what a creep Murray really is.
An article published last year in "USA Today" carried a story on how the media paid more in fines for Janet Jackson's withered mammary expose' than were paid by mining companies for all of their violations and the deaths of all those miners in 2006. Go figure.
Say what you want about Murray, Caddyshack is still an fucking great movie.
He doesnt want the recovery effort to go any further, because of days gone by where they hired illegals and worked them like dogs for two months before they collapsed the shafts and trapped them inside. Awfully inconvenient for him to have to come up with stories to explain how these things happen.
Oh, and when the mine closes, he wont be one of the ones hurting for money.
Funny how the only time I ever saw Kyra throw any heat was when she was going after Nancy Pelosi. Remember?
Yup, she'd do just fine in that White
WashHouse gig...Trapped miners' families ask union to help force recovery
I'm wondering if this recent request was another lie Murray felt the union was spreading.
"I told (the Mine Safety and Health Administration) it is an evil mountain, it is alive, and I will never go back there," Robert Murray said today.
...
Murray did concede, however, that he had said that "maybe someday" the remaining coal would be mined from the mountain.
It isn't the mountain that's evil Murray.
It's you.
(And Kyra Phillips needs to give back those 2 Murrow awards. She seems to have forgotten the meaning of the words investigate and jouralism. Must make USC proud.)
Plisko @ 33:
But they aren't interviewing these people to throw them hard questions, they're interviewing them because they're in the news and they want to get THEIR view of things. If they had a show set up for asking hard questions (Hardball doesnt count), no one would ever want to be a guest on it.
Good lord. Is that thing on the left a female human? It looks like a frozen strawberry popsicle.
Ex-Canuck @ 34:
People like you seem to have a rather misguided view on what the Media actually is and how they're meant to work.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6688698
"I told (the Mine Safety and Health Administration) it is an evil mountain, it is alive, and I will never go back there," Robert Murray said today.
whiskey tango foxtrot?!
It's not my constant cutting of corners and disregard for my miner's safety, it's the mountain! It's out to get me!
Bottom line, Murray is a murderer.
Arrrrgggghhhhhh...
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6685706
"Richard Stickler is a very competent MSHA official," Sen. Orrin Hatch said. "He has done his best to see that the job is done right. He cares greatly about these miners."
Is there a Bush appointee that Hatch won't fellate?
John Amato:
Was that snark? Or am I missing something?
jbowm @ 17:
Is this some kind of joke? Are you serious?
We have almost a total failure of the mainstream media to do the right thing, to tell the truth, to be journalists. They are no longer the Fourth Estate. They have failed us all miserably and as we will continue to see there readers and viewers will become less and less until they are no longer viable. Increasingly we see that everything is about money. The media have sold us out. They must be made to pay a huge price for that.
The sad thing is that in the on-air banter after she ends her segment with "Bob" (please....a little less formality, let's call him Mr. Murray) she notes the number of mining tragedies and the need for tougher regulations. So she knows what she should say, but she is more concerned about his feelings. Going on about how he feels. He is the one whose lax management allowed this. So what if he has some kind of heart problems? Those miners' lungs are f*cked up....and some are dead. That's definitely pretty bad for their health. And really jbowm, I think you mean to be @ foxnews.com. Go on over there with all the other 26%ers.
Pechorin @ 43:
I take issue with this statement.
Having grown up in West Virginia, I can tell you that there is nobody more far-right than a mine operator.
Murray gives a damn about the miners down below only because their predicament is hindering production. Period.
and now a word from our sponsor...
He's gonna close the mine on Evil Mountain because it has cut deep into his profits.
Pretty funny the MSM thinks they're journalists...LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdgScGIhETg
Right from day one, the first word out of his mouth made my hair stand up and red flags went up all over my soul. There is something 'smarmy' about this guy. My conscience screamed "he doesn't give a damn about the trapped miners one bit. He's only concerned about his 'image'. This guy makes my skin crawl!
Murray is a murderer who belongs in jail.
This guy trade lives for dollars, with the GOP's full support. He should be in that dark tomb with his poor illegal mexican employees, and Bush's head of the agency should be in there with them.
I've seen her act before...AND WILL NEVER WATCH HER AGAIN!!! She is a right leaning Meat-Puppet!!!
They said on CNN tonight that Mr. Murray, one of the owner's of the mine, is going to close down the mine, seal it up for good. When questioned about the fact that investigations about the dangerous conditions in this mine could not occur if the mine was sealed up, Mr. Murray responded by saying that there were no dangerous conditions that he knew of! What a joke!
Someone should take Bob and send him down one of the holes they are drilling to look for the missing miners.
Yeah, it's those bad, bad unions causing all the trouble. Yeah, that and the bad, bad mountain.
P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C
I saw this "interview", watching that slave driver squeeze out crocodile tears. I wanted to punch the TV. He ought to be prosecuted for murder, or at least negligent manslaughter, over this.
If there ever was a man worthy of a Cask of Amontillado; Murray is deserving of that award.
When she asked this man how he was holding up, I thought, "You Simpleton or media whore" it's the parents, wives and children of the miners you should be asking that. Compassion does not belong with that corporate monster but with the miners. His role in all this is to be investigated to see if he had anything to do with the tragedy.
Kyra has a "thing" for older men in a position of authority. She has on air orgasms when she interviews a general or an admiral in uniform. Her interviews with Admiral Thad Allen were X-rated and she never uttered a profanity. It was a pure "little girl" seduction.
Serious conversations? Not on CNN.
wha happend?
did Crappy Network Notreallynews claim copyright or something?
Coal mine owners have learned very little since the Ludlow Massacre. They still seem to think that miner's lives mean nothing when it comes to profits.
It's time to put them out of business and switch to some alternative form of energy.
straight shooter @ 65:
The vast majority of her interviews in Iraq were with generals, admirals and older politicians. She'll always fall back on those interviews when she wants to give you the "real story" on what's going on in Iraq. The rest her time in Iraq was mostly spent on feel good, look at the progress we're making kinda stories.
I would take a BIG WET ONE from her .... she is HOTTTTT
The media hasn't done the job that we the people thought they did. And that is uncovering government duplicity, deceit, lies, and getting the truth, no matter the
consequences. All the "news" (ha ha) networks and anchors are shills for the government
and the elites, the real leaders of the U.S. and the rest of the world. We will NEVER get
the truth until we give up the TV, newspapers, talk radio, and magazines that THEY control
and have controlled for decades. Kyra Phillips was doing what she was told to do and paid to do, hide the facts and the sheeple will just follow along. When will people realize that the media in this country are useless robots who spew nothing but very well disguised propaganda fronting as the "real" facts. The mainstream media has always been in bed with the government. When the early reports come out, that's usually the way it happened. Until the government steps in and changes the facts to fit their "official" version.
First, Kyra carries water for the GOP routinely. Perfect to interview Murray. Barbara Boxer called her on that in an interview a year ago or so.
Second, Retreat Mining is harvesting rock (coal in this case) from the walls that hold up the ceiling. You start at the back and work your way backwards towards the entrance, retreating. Retreating from what? From the roof that is guaranteed to fall in. It is just a matter of time. Imagine building an second home by cutting out the studs in your present home. It is a mathematical certainty that you home will eventually collapse after you remove enough supporting studs. Duh.
Third, a "Mine Bump" is not a bump, it is an explosion. The pressure from the roof and the floor causes the pillar holding the two apart to shatter sending out shrapnel.
Fourth, of course the MHSA approved the plan. The head of the MHSA is former mine company executive with lots of violations in his past. He was so bad that he was not confirmed by the Senate when the Republicans controlled the Senate. He was a recess appointment.
There's a long history of Coal Barons and amoral greed behind all this - and I'm speaking as a West Virginian. The only new wrinkle is maybe how profoundly the crony criminals of the Bush administration have stacked the deck against the miners, from top to bottom.
Has anybody seen so much as a 15-second bite where this Murray clown doesn't use a "sesmic incident" phrase? CYA, anybody? Why doesn't CNN ask a sesmologist about this claim, reiterated by Murray at Rovian/Orwellian/Pavlovian intervals?
Oh well -- corporate news can always be relied upon to give the corporate viewpoint of other corporations. That's what Barbie and Ken are paid big bucks to front for.
If you want to find JUSTICE during dubya's reign of ruin, look in Webster's between "juncture" and "juvenile".
I've seen more realistic looking muppets than Bob Murray.
Thing Fish @ 63:
Not Pit and the Pendulum?
Anderson Cooper asked the pressing questions on his show, while leaving Murray lots of wriggle room. I thought that Cooper was being objective and professional about it though. It's not his job to judge..
Nevertheless, it was clear to any viewer of that segment where Murray really stands on this tragedy. Seal the mine. Pay the fine. Move on to another mountain.......
The only problem with sealing the mine is we may never know what happened. If Bob Murray ordered them to use unsafe mining techniques, sealing the mine might save him from being sealed into solitary.
ysbaddaden @ 78:
Which he probably deserves. Wonder how he can sleep at nights, even in his Certa?
I feel so sorry for every worker working under that asshole. The ones that are still alive need to quit.
Mining isn't dangerous. Its only dangerous when a mine violates every single safety issue and is run by a complete jackass bastard.
He acts like Bush. They even SHOWED him saying something and then asked him about it and he said 'I didn't say that.'.
Go screw yourself bob.
as for finding whether or not he was using retreat mining (a practice that has also been used in appalachia). you don't need to open the mine. he had permission to mine like that. not all of the miners who work that mine were killed. all you have to do is look at his records, permits and talk to a few miners. this is the reason that the federal government is also guilty they allowed it.
i don't mean to sound heartless by not attempting to retrieve the bodies. but it is a fact that what is left of the mine is very unstable. so even a slow dig would be dangerous and might require the removal of the mountain from the top down.
and speaking of removing the tops of mountains--there is an article at huffpo about the administration just recently giving approval for more mountain top removal- a coal mining method that has caused so many problems in appalachia.
it sounds great; scoop the point off to get to the coal layer, drop the debris in the valley. this method is touted by sell out politicians in the area as a great way to have flat land. flat land with foul water in a remote area. and while dumping the 'top' into the convenient valley sounds like a great shortcut, it kills whole ecosystems and fouls groundwater that flows into the wells of local people. nearly every holler has a stream flowing through it and in those cool moist dark valleys there is always a great variety of flora and fauna--well, until they are covered by dozens of feet of rock.
and one last thing--to the idgit above who wants us to see this through the interviewer's eyes--i do buddy. i wish i had been the interviewer so yes i do see it that way. that is the very reason that she's being criticized here.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/23/europe/coal.php
sorry i forgot to put in the link for the huff po story--it is by John M. Broder writing for the International Herald Tribune.
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