On page 139 of the official report from the The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill And Offshore Drilling, the commission sets its sights on the media, which it says was actively seeking out people that were upset with the government response to the disaster.
In so doing, the commission accused CNN anchor Anderson Cooper of canceling a booking after learning that one of the guests may not be “angry.”
Cooper, for his part, says the accusation is “completely false.”
Here is what the report says:
Journalists encouraged state and local officials and residents to display their anger at the federal response, and offered coverage when they did. Anderson Cooper reportedly asked a Parish President to bring an angry, unemployed offshore oil worker on his show. When the Parish President could not promise the worker would be “angry,” both were disinvited.
The accusation carries extra weight because it comes from an official government report, for which the authors spent months examining the causes of the crisis and the fallout that resulted.
That having been said, a spokesperson for Cooper told the New York Post that the charges were ridiculous and false:
This unattributed statement is completely false . . . [the claim] that it was journalists who were encouraging residents and state and local leaders to ‘display their anger at the federal response’ is offensive.”
Cooper even added the reports authors to his “Ridiculist” last night: