talking about him joining the tea party last year. we don't know if this is the same jim holmes but it is jim holmes of colorado. >> that was brian ross talking to george stephanopoulos on "good morning america." of course, it was not the jim holmes. on a scale of one to five if five is completely lacking in journalistic credibility where would you put this one? >> six. i mean and here is why. not only did they get it wrong, not only did brian ross use that great journalistic tool of going toll find this guy jim holmes but then they put brian ross that night on abc world news at 6:30 p.m. and did a completely different story about the shooting and never apologized. didn't apologize during the day. owed not only the viewer but also mr. holmes the innocent one a full retraction on the air. this goes into too good to check, couldn't wait, didn't even apologize.

>> does nobody stop and think maybe we ought to check this out before we go to air with it? >> that is the interesting question about this episode. everybody makes mistakes but where were the editors? where were the people who would say maybe we ought not to put that on the air whether until we found out whether or not there is another jim holmes which there was whose e-mail was overflowing and whose phone was ringing off the hook and he never got an apology from any one at abc. >> after the gabrielle giffords shoeing there was some effort to pin that event on the tea party sarah palin and the ads she had taken out, all of which was wrong. >> it is completely distasteful. you have the horrible tragedy and people are jumping to try to say let's blame it on a tea party or a political party. at the same time you had breitbart cite sizing this and by the way this guy might be a registered democrat.

they are doing the same exact thing. it would be nice if we could take this out of the discussion. even if thisth is a registered democrat what is the implication, that that is why they did this? that is absurd. >> worth saying that breitbart's website is not abc news. >> not like brian ross hasn't been around this forever. first rule inherently uncertain information flowing around you don't go into google and throw something on the air automatically when you hit upon it. this is unthinking contempt that diffuses the mainstream media for the tea party. >> and then it went on. the controversy at abc over the mother's statement to an abc producer about whether the son was the right person. abc implyd that she somehow knew that her son was capable of doing this or planning it. >> they apparently woke mr. holmes' mother up out of a dead sleep and asked are you

the mother of and exactly what she said, who knows. once you lose trust in a news organization for all the reasons we have been saying, how do you know what happened there and the additional issue of whether or not holmes is in the jail cell spitting at the prison guards. abc said that, too. and you can't trust them any more. >> i hate to keep bringing up abc but they keep making these mistakes. they said he was spitting on guards and wearing a mask in the jail. even the denver abc station contradicted that report. >> gets to be a kind of nbc problem when they were having the editorial gaffe. have to ask what is going on here and why is nobody checking. because on other stories abc doesn't do this. what happened in this case. i think some journalism student some where is going to have one heck of a master's thesis. >> a very competitive business journalism we al all want to be

first but you have to get it right. >> you were saying how did this get on with brian ross. i doubt he runs things past other people. he is able to google and just go right on the air with it because he is a well established journalist that i think people trust. it is hard to understand how something like this happens how he would even think that this, you you know, that he wouldn't think i want to make sure this is right. >> and why doesn't george stephanopoulos say wait a minute, a name like jim holmes is pretty common can we take a step back here? >> you would think so. i don't even understand the chain of logic from tea party to shooting movie theaters. i mean this is not a major plank of the tea party ideology, you know, violence at movie theaters. again, it is only a product of the really distorted and basically hateful view. >> and we might add, suppose brian ross had gone to george stephanopoulos and said i want to say on the air that the shooter has something to do

with the obama campaign. do do you think they would have said let's put that on the air or call david axelrod and check first? >> interesting point. up next on news watch. the tragedy in colorado gives the anti-gun media another chance for coverage. media coverage of the movie theater massacre in colorado sparks another one sided debate on gun control. has the press become too predictable on this issue? >> the president's words continue to make news but are the news needia helping him spin the meaning of what he

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to politicize this and make this a debate. that is not what we are here to do right now. we are here to celebrate the lives of the victims that have been lost. dysont was michael eric die and an msnbc anchor talking to the brother of a shooting victim. the brother not taking the bait to use the tragedy to talk about gun laws. seems that the media turn to let's have gun control to prevent the next one. >> that is sort of the media position. as mar halperin said everybodys is for gun control in the media. as predictable as the fact that the shootings erupt every year or so in our culture. >> you are one that says let's do that. bring on more gun control. >> charter member of th of the

society and brad proud of it. when you get the bill ma sherr saying why did we allow the semi automatic weapons ban to expire are in 2004. you don't need an oozi to protect your family or shoot a deer. i think this is asking the obvious. >> kirsten, you come from alaska where just about everybody has a gun. where do you fall? >> i grew up with a house with 20 guns, grew up shooting guns. i'm not anti-gun. there were no semi automatic weapons. my father was a member of the nra and got to the point where they had gone past just basic protection of gun rights and i think the defenders of the nra will claim all of the nra members support everything the nra does. that is not true. there are plenty fine with a ban on assault weapons.

they don't want to lose the right to have the hunting rifle or weapon in the home to protect themselves. they can see how dangerous the weapons can be. >> should we be talking about banning violence in movies or any number of other things that could help alleviate the problem. >> the gun thing, i don't have a problem with there being a debate about guns in the wake of someone shooting a lot of people. the michael eric dyson thing was gegrerious. so much of the commentary in the press is misinformed or are unrealistic on the issue. the assault weapons ban when it is raised should be pointed out assault weapons are scare. >> looking semi automatic rifles of the sort that people do use to hunt deer. even if you reinstituted the same ban he could have gotten

all of the same stuff because he could have bought it use. if you want to have the ban you have to confiscate every existing assault weapon which is never going to happen. >> on behalf of the deer i don't think that is fair. what do they need an assault weapon to hunt a deer? >> a se semi automatic weapon. >> the debate is stat glick thanks a lot, jim. [ laughter ] >> give me some of your creative thinking over there. we will be static and proud of it. >> it is frozen and not going to happen between now and election day. two things, as ramsey cox at the hill pointed out, the senate democrats are trying to attach amendments to things that slip in gun control. little hidden riders here and there and a lot of others are trying to create political space for the president to evolve his position on the issue. the same way that the issue on gay marriage evolved i predict

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if you weren't successful somebody -- if you were successful somebody along the line gave you some help. there was a great teacher some where in your life. somebody helped to create this unbelievable american system that we had that allowed you to thrive. somebody invested roads and bridges. if you have a business you didn't build that, somebody else made that happen. >> president obama from two weeks ago. his words still getting media attention this week and so did this comment mitt romney made to nbc about olympic security concerns. >> you know, tr is hard to know just how well it will turn out.

there were a new things disconcerting. the stories about the private security firm not having enough people. the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials. that obviously is not something which was encouraging. >> which of the comments got more criticism? judy take that one on? >> which week? we have been having this gaffe fest and gaffe standoff now for two weeks. everybody is making gaffes. i think that what obama said was taken out of context just as i think that romney's statements on firing people was taken out of context. i think it is going to happen in a campaign. i think we ought to get used to it. i don't think anybody is surprised. clearly it is cutting if even andrew sullivan who is a very strong obama supporter says i didn't like the president's remarks because i had my success myself and i don't want to feel happy about paying more taxes. an arguement that is cutting

and clearly the obama administration is doing something about it. >> there have been concerns in britain. the contractor hired to provide security guards couldn't get enough and 3500 military had to step? >> romney made a kind of intellectually interesting point is undiplomatic way and had the profound misfortune of being near the british press which just slaughtered him on this which makes american tabloids look like reader's digest. >> and nbc had it but didn't do anything with it until the british press started commenting on it. >> the british press made a story. jim is right. they are complete sharks and romney was over in shark infested water and cut up his arm and jumped into the water and you had a predictable reaction where they loved jumping all over him about it and then gave the warrant for the u.s. press to say gosh, he

really messed up his foreign trip. >> and to the president's remarks about you didn't build that he says he was quoted -- he was taken out of context and he has a new web ad trying to answer, trying to, you though, complain that he was taken out of context. was he? >> it is possible that he was taken out of context. not completely clear what he was talking with being built whether it was the roads or businesses but it actually doesn't matter. he should have known he was just stepping right into an ongoing debate and it is an idea logical debate about the roles of government. i take offense to the idea if you are successful it is only because the government built a road or something. i'm not known as like an oober conservative. it was an inartful way of him writing off all of the subbases or innovation to just the government did it. >> it is what he believed. a direct to eliz warren who was

hailed for representing this point of view that rich people didn't get their on their own. >> moving ton what some in the press are calling leak gate and the collective effort of congress to investigate. concerns over classified information being handed out to the media. mitt romney added his concerns before his trip to london saying the conduct is contemptible and betrayed our natural interest. he went on. >> whoever provided classified information to the media seeking political advantage for the administration must be exposed dismissed and punished. the time for stone walling is over. cbs charlie rose gave senior obama campaign strategist david axelrod a platform to respond. >> contemptible conduct, a betrayal. where are we? >> well, i think what we heard was a bunch of bellacose language from governor romney

with nothing behind it. a bunch of bellacose bloviating. >> a guy to turn to on a national security issue. on june 10, david axelrod campaign chief said nobody in the white house had anything to do with this. be on july 25, axelrod who has been out of the white house for 18 months and has no security clearance says the president had nothing to do with it. how does axelrod know that? how does he know that the president didn't do it? who told him and why isn't he being subpoenaed by the investigators? >> also the comment that axelrod dug in about john bolton writing the speech and we know that wasn't true. charlie rose let him get away with it. >> there was no pushback from charlie rose. >> what was really amazing is

that even senator feinstein who is a democrat and head of the intelligence chitee said look, these leaks some appear to be coming from the white house and then was bludgeoned into walking that back. there are two investigations that will conveniently draw some conclusions after november. i think i'm not in favor of independent and special counsels. i think they lead to very bad things but this is really a bit much. >> up next on news watch. how the story of a missing ♪

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>> jon: 31 years ago this week a child abduction case changed the way the media covers those stories, july 27, 1981 adam walsh went any go at a series store in hollywood, florida. he was found in a canal. his murder revved worldwide media attention. 27 years later the hollywood police department named otis tool e the murderer the man they suspected all along. >> for 27 years we've been asking who could take a six-year-old boy? murder him and decapitated him.

we needed some help. we needed to know, and today we know. >> jon: adam's father john walsh was a public advocate for young victims. spurring the center for national and missing children. dedicating parents and police in finding missing chin. he went on to host america's most wanted dedicated to assisting law enforcement to apprehend fugitives including crimes against children. it premiered in 1988 and as of earlier this month, nearly 200 criminals have been captured. that is a wrap this week for news watch. thanks to our panel. i'm jon scott. thanks for watching. we'll see y

>>. >> heather: i'm heather childers and welcome to a brand-new hour. >> i'm eric shawn, topping the news. >> heather: governor mitt romney talking cuff on iran. a live report from jerusalem coming up. >> show down on this week on capitol hill between democratic and republican bills which could decide whether we'll see a big tax hike this year. >> heather: and democracy for sale total highest bidder. allegations of drug money is buying votes in one state. our voter fraud unit headed by eric shawn who is with us is on the case.

>> heather: much of the governor's speech focusing on iran and suspected nuclear weapons program. saying it must be america's highest national security priority to keep tehran from building a nuclear bomb. carl cameron is traveling with the governor in jerusalem. >> reporter: mitt romney is wrapping up his day here in jerusalem. it's quite late. it was day he began with the meeting with the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu a long time friend and culmination for a quite personal level, not his first to the western wall where he was greeted by a number of other pilgrims and jews going to the iconic religious site. got a very warm reception. following at the time he put a prayer into one of the cracks in the wall as is the custom. later in the day he