Cosby Lawyer Accuses CNN of ‘One-Sided Reporting’ for Refusing to Interview Witness
In a strongly worded letter to CNN president Jeff Zucker, celebrity lawyer Marty Singer blasted the network for their coverage of the Bill Cosby rape allegations, calling their reporting “a reckless approach to ‘journalism'” and accusing them of ignoring a witness who would have discredited one of his accusers.
“We continue to be shocked by CNN’s outrageous ongoing refusal to investigate and run balanced stories about my client,” Singer wrote in a letter obtained by TMZ. “While airing untested stories from accusers who have seemingly been subject to little or no vetting, CNN takes the opposite approach with anyone who comes forward with relevant information undermining accusers’ claims or with relevant information supporting Mr. Cosby.”
Specifically, they’re pissed that CNN didn’t interview Mark Burk, the live-in boyfriend of model Beverly Johnson, who recently accused Cosby of raping her. According to Singer, Burk would have told CNN, who had planned on interviewing Johnson, that she was actually a big fan of Cosby and “never said a negative statement” about him during their four-year relationship, much less accused him of drugging and raping her.
“CNN tried to manipulate and coerce Mr. Burk into lying and making up false statements about Beverly Johnson’s statement about Mr. Cosby,” Singer accused. “When he did not give the answers the reporters wanted to their questions, they ended the conversation and refused to interview him for your program.”
The rest of the letter is littered with phrases like “self-serving,” “reckless and malicious,” “one-sided reporting,” and “CNN has abandoned journalistic rigor on this story, blindly ignoring and deterring exculpatory information while essentially becoming a willing broadcast agent for any allegation about my client”.
And it ends on this diss:
If CNN wants to be viewed as a leader in unbiased, thorough reporting around the world, it should start acting like one.
Govern yourselves accordingly.
(Sadly, there is no mention of DickChompGate.)
UPDATE (5:32 PM EST): Mediaite has obtained CNN’s response to Singer, in which they point out that Bart is the subject of “multiple restraining orders” related to Johnson.
[h/t Gawker]
[Image via screenshot]
—
