Duke Rape Case: Cable News Networks Air Pornography in the Afternoon

I was driving to the gym with my thirteen-year-old daughter on Friday, and as I searched for some conservative news talk on the radio, I came across the press conference concerning the Duke lacrosse rape case. Out of curiosity, I left it on, and heard one of the attorneys graphically describe sexual acts that would have made Linda Lovelace blush. Realizing my daughter was in the car, I quickly turned the radio off.

According to a number of sources on the Internet, as well as transcripts now available, several cable news networks broadcast this press conference live for all of America to hear the pornography. According to NBC’s Brian Williams: “Three cable news networks took the defense attorney's news conference live, and the language, dealing with sex acts and body parts, was unbelievable. I couldn't help but think of the daytime TV audience during what one of the attorneys almost comically went on to describe as ‘this wonderful season of the year.’"

Brian Stelter at TVNewser took the transcript from CNN and counted the various explicit sexual references (intentionally placed in the “Read More” section for those who would prefer not to see it; consider yourself warned):

So, for the record, we counted the number of times each sex act and body part was mentioned, according to CNN's transcript of its 3pm hour. "Penis" was the most common word, with 14 utterances. Click continued for the rest...


    Penis: 14 times

    Sexual: 12 times

    Vagina: 8 times

    Penetration: 7 times

    Anus: 6 times

    Sex: 6 times

    Mouth: 5 times

    Vaginal: 3 times

    Oral: 1 time

    Ejaculated: 1 time

Pretty amazing stuff.