Friday's CBS Evening News previewed an upcoming 60 Minutes exposé on the "widespread failures in the system that grants top-secret security clearance to federal employees and contractors." Scott Pelley pointed at Bradley Manning as a prime example of "how top-secret clearances fall into dangerous hands." Pelley featured several clips from his interview of Manning's former supervisor in Iraq, who told her superior that "he cannot be trusted with a security clearance; we can't deploy him; and he's most likely a spy."
Bradley Manning
By Ken Shepherd | April 23, 2014 | 11:03 AM EDT
Convicted spy Bradley Manning is going to court in the hopes of securing a legal name change to Chelsea Manning. Pfc. Manning, who insists he is a woman and wants to be called Chelsea, has neither procured a court order for a name change nor begun gender reassignment treatments.
But reporting on the development, the Associated Press's John Milburn today repeatedly referred to Manning as either Chelsea or used feminine pronouns, betraying the news wire's devotion to absurd political correctness over an obligation to report that which is objectively true (emphasis mine):
By Matthew Balan | February 14, 2014 | 9:04 PM EST
ABC, CBS, and NBC's morning and evening newscasts have so far punted on reporting the strong critique of the Obama administration's "disturbing retreat from democratic practices" with regard to the freedom of the press, according to Reporters Without Borders. The U.S. fell 13 places in the international group's annual "World Press Freedom Index" for the federal government's "increased efforts to track down whistleblowers and the sources of leaks."
The organization spotlighted the controversial leaks from Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden as examples, but also included the Department of Justice's seizure of the Associated Press' phone records as a "reminder of the urgent need for a 'shield law' to protect the confidentiality of journalists' sources at the federal level." Fox News' Shannon Bream devoted a brief to the Reporters Without Borders report on Wednesday's Special Report: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]
By Ken Shepherd | November 25, 2013 | 4:38 PM EST
"Before we stuff ourselves with stuffing and trim the tree this Thanksgiving, TIME asks some public figures—from Michelle Obama to Rick Warren to our astronauts orbiting Earth—to share what they're grateful for," magazine editors noted in a November 25 post at Time.com today.
All told there were 18 individuals who were given a platform to note what they are thankful for. There were four prominent Democrats, two elected Republicans, and one pro-life activist among them. But the most noteworthy entry was that for "Chelsea" Manning, the feminine identity that convicted Army private Bradley Manning wishes to go by. Here's his entry in full (emphasis mine; the portion in italics at the end was written by TIME magazine):
By Tim Graham | August 31, 2013 | 1:36 PM EDT
The September 9 edition of People magazine included an article on Bradley Manning headlined “The Secret After the Sentence: Found guilty of espionage, the discharged Army private reveals she is transgendered and will go to military prison as ‘Chelsea’.”
Reporter Johnny Dodd aggressively used female pronouns even inserting one in a quote from Manning's defense lawyer: “What drove [her] actions was a strong moral compass.”
By Ken Shepherd | August 28, 2013 | 4:33 PM EDT
While honoring Bradley Manning's wish to be identified as a woman and called "Chelsea," Time magazine writer James Poniewozik wants to know exactly when did Bradley become Chelsea, posing various grammatical issues raised by journalists accepting Manning's self-delusion about his gender.
"Since she’s a longtime figure in the news, in a case involving her actions years previous, how do you refer to her history? Did Bradley leak information to Wikileaks, or did Chelsea? (Or Breanna?) Did she serve in Iraq or did he?" Poniewozik wondered in an August 18 Tune In Time.com blog post, adding, "The answer goes to the question, still fuzzily defined, of what philosophy and definitions we’re using when referring to the growing number of transgender persons":
By Ken Shepherd | August 27, 2013 | 3:43 PM EDT
*Corrected from earlier | "Starting tomorrow, The New York Times and The Associated Press will refer to Bradley Manning as Chelsea Manning, 'formerly know as Pfc. Bradley Manning,' honoring the former soldier's request to be addressed as a female," Politico media reporter Dylan Byers noted yesterday* afternoon. Not only will AP and the Times refer to Manning with female pronouns, but in an email, an AP editor insisted that Manning "will henceforth use Pvt. Chelsea E. Manning... in accordance with her wishes to live as a woman."
For his part, however, Byers (and presumably the rest of Politico), is sticking with "he" when describing Manning:
By Paul Bremmer | August 27, 2013 | 12:25 PM EDT
It looks as if MSNBC has kowtowed to Bradley Manning’s request to be referred to as a woman. On Sunday’s Weekends with Alex Witt, fill-in host Mara Schiavocampo tried to honor Manning’s bizarre request, but kept slipping up and referring to Manning as “he.”
In a teaser before the segment, Schiavocampo declared, “Bradley Manning is now Chelsea Manning. But is Leavenworth prison legally obligated to grant the soldier gender re-assignment therapy? And is she in any danger in a men's prison?”
By Kyle Drennen | August 23, 2013 | 5:25 PM EDT
In an exclusive interview with Bradley Manning's attorney David Coombs on Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie read a "bombshell announcement" from the convicted military leaker: "I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female." After referring to Manning as "he" throughout the segment, Guthrie immediately switched pronouns: "Why did she choose this moment to announce this?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Guthrie then fretted: "She wants hormone therapy. Fort Leavenworth does not provide that. Are you going to sue to try to force the government to give her hormone therapy, and perhaps a sex-reassignment surgery?" Coombs replied: "...as far as the hormone therapy, yes. I'm hoping Fort Leavenworth would do the right thing and provide that. If Fort Leavenworth does not, then I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that they are forced to do so."
By Ken Shepherd | August 22, 2013 | 6:34 PM EDT
We at NewsBusters have repeatedly raked Reuters over the coals for years now on various issues -- particularly their steadfast refusal in numerous stories to call terrorists "terrorists." But today a kudos is in order as the news wire -- in reporting Private Bradley Manning's desire to undergo hormone therapy to take on the persona of a woman named Chelsea -- refuses to call Manning a "she," something that Time magazine and NBC's Savannah Guthrie, among other journalists, are doing.
In Susan Heavey and Ian Simpson's 24-paragraph story this afternoon, the only times Manning was described as a "she" was when his lawyer was directly quoted [article accessed via ChicagoTribune.com]:
By Mark Finkelstein | August 21, 2013 | 2:43 PM EDT
So what if he disclosed information that potentially threatened American lives and security interests? Manning's a "frail guy who doesn't look threatening to anyone." So you have to question the length of his sentence.
Such was the bizarre logic that Chris Matthews—guest hosting for Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC today—employed as he bemoaned Bradley Mannings' sentence--which could in practice see him freed in less than 10 years. Matthews was also moved by the fact that in military prison, Manning will be surrounded by people "who won't like him." View the video after the jump.
By Matt Philbin | July 31, 2013 | 4:26 PM EDT
Bradley Manning must be terribly lonely. After all, how many gay men have made news the last few years without being celebrated in the media for their gayness? And a gay man who also “struggles with issues of gender identity” can pretty much write his own contract with MSNBC.
But the media, and the broadcast networks especially, are oddly reticent about the sexual orientation and confusion of Manning, the army private convicted of the most extensive military intelligence security breach in U.S. history.