January 7, 2009

Janelle Rodriguez,
Executive Producer
Campbell Brown Show, CNN
janelle.rodriguez@turner.com

Dear Ms. Rodriguez:

In last night’s broadcast about the lawsuit against Dahn Yoga CNN made no pretense at presenting a balanced story. Even though Campbell Brown kept saying “both sides” like a mantra, I could only see one—the plaintiffs’. As I have said before, CNN had access to a lot of information about the lawsuit and the people involved, but made an editorial choice not to use it.

Even though they had 27 people to choose from, they trotted out the same plaintiff for a replay of her accusations. What they did not show you was the other side of her story. The plaintiffs’ complaints, the defendants’ Motion for Reconsideration and an interview with someone who had worked with Jade all were potential sources of the balance Campbell championed. With all that information, why did they keeping getting the year of Jade’s alleged assault wrong? It’s not the only thing they got wrong. Somehow many minutes were spent discussing the lawsuit, but no mention was made of the fact that the judge had already dismissed 8 of the plaintiffs’ 10 claims. They also omitted the fact that Ms. Harrelson changed her stories between complaints. From what we see on with CNN, it looks like she made some changes to her story even after the amended complaint.

There was a continued effort of disinformation surrounding the death of Dr. Julia Siverls. Does Kyra really know anything about the weather in the Sedona area? Even in July it is not very hot at 9 am. Her death is a mystery because the doctors had a tough time analyzing this situation. They could not determine the exact time or cause of death. This is clear from the various reports. Why do they keep saying she died at 9 when the police report states they started their hike at 9, the off-duty sheriff’s deputy saw her not looking so well after 10? Why would they presume to draw a conclusion that the doctors could not? Also, there was a dramatic presentation about rocks, but there was no indication from the investigations that Dr. Siverls ever carried any rocks in her backpack. Is this fair journalism?

It seems trite to quote an old adage, but I can’t resist. CNN shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Did they read any of it? I don’t think so. They brought Dr. Gupta on the show to belittle “Brain Wave Vibration,” but they did not read one quote from it. They took part of Mr. Lee’s lecture out of context, but they did not share my answer about that context. I hope that you the viewers of CNN will be smart enough to see the glitches and gaps in this presentation and see that both sides of the story should not mean Jade’s and Liza’s.

Yours truly,

Joseph Alexander
In House/Counsel Vice President–Communications