Conservative sting activist James O’Keefe on Thursday released 100 hours of audio of CNN employees that surreptitiously recorded in 2009 and provided to his organization from an anonymous source.
O’Keefe said he has not edited the audio and is calling on the public to sift through it to find controversial pieces within it. It’s posted at his Project Veritas website.
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In one of the clips O’Keefe featured in a tease for all the audio, Richard Griffiths, who is now CNN’s vice president and senior editorial director, is heard describing his philosophy on journalism.
“Aid the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. To a degree, right?” Griffiths says, citing a common journalism trope. “Is that not part of the traditional role of a journalist? It’s actually one of the things I can be most proud of as a journalist.”
In another clip, Joe Sterling, who at the time worked as an online editor for CNN, is heard saying “there is no debate” over the science on climate change and he likens it to “born-agains” who say there remains a debate over creationism.
O’Keefe, who is often criticized for deceptive editing and unethical media tactics, called Sterling’s comments evidence of “blatant bias against Republicans.”
O’Keefe’s tapes publish amid President Trump’s frequent attacks on CNN as “fake news.”
On his website, O’Keefe says more audio will be “released in a WikiLeaks style dump.”
The Washington Examiner has reached out to CNN for comment.
