Re: CNN Rinal Round makes Pete jokes

["Kenneth Hawkins" <ken.hawkins@xxxxxxxx>]

I sent ADB to Wolf Blitzer on Jan. 14th, along with the message below combined
from Kevin's draft and my own.

His direct email is wolf@cnn.com
Never heard back from him, however,

/
Jan. 14, 2003

Dear Mr. Blitzer,
Please proceed with the Pete Townshend story
fairly. I missed your talk with the reporter last
night but I read the transcript of Talkback Live and
it seemed balanced. I believe Mr. Townshend's name
will be cleared in the end.

Pete Townshend has seen some of his closest friends
lose their lives in battle against addiction to
alcohol and drugs. Townshend has helped countless
addicts, some famous and some not so famous,
by his support of rehabilitation programs in England
and the United States. He has fought like
addictions himself and has valiantly worked his own
program of recovery for many years.

In recent years he has become increasingly alarmed
about the free availability of child pornography on
the Internet and has shown particular concerns for the
victims behind every image. He has raised awareness
about this evil on his own website, drawing attention
to the insidious reach it has and how it often thrives
in tandem with other addictions. He has
performed many benefit concerts to support children's
charities; his concerts for the Maryville Academy in
Chicago have raised over $1 million.

He may be guilty of bad judgment and naivete.  But his
determination to learn more about these issues and his
passion to face them down is genuine and praiseworthy.

Please don't use this as an excuse to ruin a grand
reputation.  Please be patient for all the facts.

Below is a transcription of a paper Mr. Townshend put
up on his website a year ago.  It is difficult after
reading this to doubt that he has good
intentions, notwithstanding his questionable way of
accounting for them this week.

Sincerely,
etc.



>>> pkeets@hotmail.com 01/26/03 03:12PM >>>
Actually the joke was funny.  They were talking about Scott Ritter's
statment to the press about pedophillia (he's the US reporter that
unsuccessfully used the research defense), and said he could join Pete
Townshend on the Magic Bus.  Blitzer then explained, but he said Pete was
"implicated" in the child porn investigation and didn't mention that he was
released without charges.  Here's what I wrote, if anyone wants to
paraphrase.  Please complain to CNN@cnn.com/

>I've just heard Mr. Wolf Blitzer's comments about Pete Townshend on Final
>Round.  The joke was okay, but please note in your explanations that Pete
>Townshend was accused by the press and released without charges by the
>police.  He has worked at Faber and Faber as an editor and has published
>books and plays, so he has excellent credentials as a writer who presents
>the dark side of humanity in his work.  Unlike Mr. Ritter, Mr. Townshend
>has campaigned against child porn and provides assistance to victims
>through his charities.  Please make sure that everyone within your
>organization has the facts.  Also, please make an effort to repair some of
>the damage these accusations have done to Mr. Townshend's reputation.
>Thank you.



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