The following phone call took place about 10 minutes ago. This is a rough transcript, as the call was not recorded:

Ring. Ring.

CNN: Hello? CNN.

Me: Yes, may I have office of Jonathan Klein, please?

CNN: Who are you?

Me: This is Mick Wright.

CNN: Who are you?

Me: My name is Mick Wright.

CNN: No, who are you with?

Me: I’m not with anybody.

CNN: You’re just calling the President of CNN?

Me: That’s right.

CNN: What is this concerning?

Me: It’s concerning some news coverage.

CNN: Ok… I can take a message. What’s your phone number?

Me: 901.—.—-

CNN: Ok, and what is this concerning specifically?

Me: The lack of news coverage on a particular story.

CNN: What story is that?

Me: The 500 chemical shells found in Iraq.

CNN: Oh, I see, ok, thank you. [About to hang up]

Me: Let me ask you a question.

CNN: Ok.

Me: Have you heard about the 500 chemical shells we found in Iraq?

CNN: Yes, I saw it on Fox News.

Me: Why isn’t CNN covering this story?

CNN: Well, I believe the Department of Defense said today that..

Me: How would you know that? How would anyone know that unless you report it?

CNN: We’ve got many correspondants in Iraq and a big staff and I’m sure we’re tracking this story. There are reports on our network and on other networks…

Me: No, CNN has not reported this story. Fox News, yes.

CNN: Ok, I’ll give him your message.

Me: Thank you.

CNN: Goodbye.

After this, I take a restroom break, and when I come back I have a voicemail on my phone:

CNN: Hi, I just spoke to you, I’m with CNN. I just wanted to give you the best way to send any information or any complaints or concerns about things that we may or may not be covering is to go to public.information@cnn.com. All of those are read and responded to and sent to the right people, so that’s your best bet. Thanks. Bye.

Yeah, thanks CNN, but I already tried that. Two days ago.

Somehow the fact that we’ve found stockpiles of WMD in Iraq is not important enough to cover in a two-day span. Stories that are more important include:

  • Man who de-lints his cat wins clean award
  • McPhee one of millions with bulimia
  • Springsteen talks about his album’s message

Etc.

UPDATE: Fifty percent of Americans now know the facts, despite the media’s misinformation campaign:

Half of Americans now say Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the United States invaded the country in 2003 — up from 36 percent last year, a Harris poll finds. Pollsters deemed the increase both “substantial” and “surprising” in light of persistent press reports to the contrary in recent years.

The survey did not speculate on what caused the shift in opinion, which supports President Bush’s original rationale for going to war. Respondents were questioned in early July after the release of a Defense Department intelligence report that revealed coalition forces recovered 500 aging chemical weapons containing mustard or sarin gas nerve agents in Iraq.