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BRUCE MITCHELL FEATURE
Original Headline: "The Truth About Cable News, John Cena, and WWE"
Original Publish Date: November 13, 2007
Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter #997/998

So, John Cena wants an apology from CNN for taking his odd comment about steroids ("I can't tell you that I haven't, but you'll never be able to prove that I have.") out of context.

Well, he's right. He deserves an apology. He straight up denied ever taking steroids in the interview and they edited that out on the original broadcast. That edit changed how Cena came across on the subject, and made him look like just another Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, or, perhaps, Sean Sherk - in denial until there's just no denial left.

See, lots of people don't believe John Cena when he says he doesn't take steroids or illegal muscle enhancers. That cast on his arm may speak volumes. The general public looks at guys on Raw and Smackdown, then learns about the appalling death rate of pro wrestlers and knows how to add two plus two. The context Cena provided for his answer, the context CNN deleted, was important to understanding how he knows he has to live with that suspicion, whether or not he is guilty, as long as he is a well-built pro wrestler, because of the Marion Jones of the world.

He left out all his fellow WWE Superstars who, like Cena is doing now, denied taking these drugs only to get caught red-handed, sometimes by the WWE Wellness Policy that was designed to do just that. That wouldn't have worked for the story he was trying to tell, just like Cena's denial and detailed explanation for his answer didn't work for the story CNN was trying to tell.

And therein lies a problem.

One of the sub-stories in the wake of what happened to Chris Benoit, his family, and pro wrestling was the frustrating truth of what news, particularly cable news, is in this country. CNN didn't run this story because the lives of pro wrestlers are any more or less important than some other issue. As Steven Johnson meticulously documented in the book "Benoit: Wrestling with the Horror that Destroyed a Family and Crippled a Sport," this story was a ratings draw.

That's all that mattered, in the end.

CNN, despite what WWE may tell you, handled their "Death Grip" documentary in a balanced fashion, and it's not just that they didn't need an out-of-context killer quote from a big-time current wrestling star to make the case that too many wrestlers have died and WWE's Wellness Policy, in the words of Travis Tygart, the head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, "has a loophole my three year old could drive a truck through." (Maybe WWE lawyer Jerry McDevitt could tell McMahon that the doctor excuse is, in the well-chosen word of Richard Nixon's old press secretary Ron Ziegler, "inoperable.")

Here's what CNN may have done earlier that balances the score, during the months it took reporter Drew Griffin and his production crew to put together their hour-long documentary:

On the night before Griffin's team was scheduled to come to Wrestling Observer editor/writer Dave Meltzer's house to interview him for the story, Meltzer got a call.

The interview was off. CNN wasn't coming. Would Vince McMahon not allow any interviews with anyone in WWE, including himself, if CNN put Meltzer in their documentary?

This had happened before with CNN. On a Nancy Grace show this summer, WWE told CNN their lawyer, Jerry McDevitt, and the doctor who designed, implemented, and ran their Wellness Policy, Dr. David Black, would not appear if Meltzer and Figure Four weekly editor Bryan Alvarez, already on the show, were allowed to directly respond to or question them.

Was there a legitimate reason to remove Meltzer from the documentary? Did he blow a story, or take a critical quote out of context, in his reporting about WWE? Did CNN, based on what WWE told them, vet Meltzer's work and discover something that completely made them change their opinion of his knowledge of the story they were covering? Did they tell WWE that no reputable news organization would give the tainted subject of scandal any say over how they would covered, and that if WWE pulled their previously promised cooperation America's Number One Cable News Source would note that, and the reasons why, in their documentary?

Nah, nothing like that.

So, why was CNN's interview with Meltzer suddenly cancelled, when they were already in the area to interview author Irv Mushnick, whose reporting on the story was nowhere near as comprehensive, if not because of pressure from WWE - as happened before?

Did CNN let a wrestling promotion dictate the terms of their coverage, again?

The shame of it is, CNN reported a hell of a story this past few months without any of this.

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