>> here on news wa >>. >> rick: here on news watch we cover the coverage even when we cover ourselves. on shepard smith we watched a man kill himself after a car chase. the suspect stole a car from two people at gunpoint and led cops

on a high-speed chase. it ended on the dirt road where the suspects ran. moments later he shot himself and fell to the ground. we showed the portion where the man shot himself and anchor shepard smith apologized. this followed by a statement. he said, quote, we took every precaution to avoid any such live incident by putting the helicopter pictures on a five seconds delay. unfortunately this mistake was the result of a severe human error and we just a few for what viewers ultimately saw. >> more. our embassy at benghazi was attacked and ambassador and three americans were killed. as the days passed. story is getting a bid bit more clear thanks to a journal kept

by chris stevens. james rosen that piece of the puzzle and reaction over its use. >> reporter: at issue here is a hard bound book containing seven pages of handwritten notes made by ambassador steens. cnn says correspondent found the journal on consulate grounds three days after the attack there. in his notes stevens reportedly expressed concern about never ending security threats and he was worried that he was placed on al-qaeda hit list. asked if he cabled back the concerns. state department that the f.b.i. is investigating however a former ambassador told fox news megyn kelly that the contents of the stevens journal may expose a failing to the approach to the region. >> i'm sure if he believed that security was a problem he would have informed the state department's diplomatic security bureau and should have taken the necessary steps. the fact that he and three other

americans were killed by definition shows there was massive failure of security. >> reporter: at first cnn only cited an individual familiar with his thinking. anderson cooper exposed the existence of the journal an aide to secretary clinton, he gave a furious statement of locking humanity that the network giachb to the stevens family to return the journal promptly and not report on personal details. now enter michael hastings a reporter best known for having written a story for rolling stone a few years back that resulted in the resignation in of stanley mcchrystal. he aoe78d them, why they didn't the consulate and find the diary first. what other potential valuable intelligence was left behind? was any classified or top secret material also left?

on the classified material he shot back so you might want to ask cnn they took anything else from the crime scene. later on he asked hastings, why do you bother to ask questions that you know the answers to. why don't you give answers that aren't bs. i now understand the investigation concluded beyond a doubt that you are unmitigated blank hole. how is that for a none bs response. and he said have a good day and i mean, blank off. he did not respond to fox news requests. two italian diplomats seemed to return to the journal to the state department on sunday september 23rd. reporting for news watch, james rosen. >> rick: the diary and cnn finding it and use it as a

source for reporting. would any other news organization have done anything differently? >> no. i do not begin to understand y white house and state department's indignation over the reporting of obvious news, every news organization would have done that. they were trying to change the subject. they wanted to make it about but now it looks like failure or failure to respond to an obvious threat. >> rick: we heard james report, this is an assistant deputy secretary of state, deputy assistant secretary of state. what is that to have a conversation with a reporter? >> dana writing in the "washington post". this is what you have now. they have a little cadre who sees themselves entirely as

counter punchers and punching hard against the media and everybody else. it's a professional, letter gild of spin doctors and now we see one what they really sound and acted and talk about. everybody in politics knows them. >> rick: very little attention to this correspondence. when mitt romney goes overseas during the summer and one of his aides has a heated exchange with a reporter it's front page news. >> we have more evidence of the bias of the mainstream media. i agree it was news, big argument was between the state department and cnn as to whether some agreement was lived up to. here is the real problem. the administration, obama administration wanted this diary out of the way as rapidly as possible because chris stevens was concerned about the lack of security. they don't want to be held

accountable for that. there was report on drudge that links the potential of a budget cut for security at the state department with what happened at benghazi. they don't want their fingerprints on that one. >> rick: if the goal was to change the sibt, did it work? >> media were on the trail. so there is nobody to throw off. the thing it's only been a few reporters who has been on this story. i think what is interesting, what was in the diary the journal to be very specific, it wasn't just concerned he an attack he was concerned about al-qaeda. that is something that is now eli lake has reported and fox news has reported on they knew within 24 hours that this was linked to al-qaeda. so that is why there was such a heavy -- this is just trying to crush this story to make sure that no other reporter would go

after it. >> rick: we'll pick up on that part of the story when we come back. more on the terror attack on libya and charges now of a cover-up when we come right back. p when we come back. ♪ why not make lunch more than just lunch? with two times the points on dining in restaurants, you may find yourself asking why not, a lot. chase sapphire preferred. there's more to enjoy.

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staff from the embassy in libya. they are citing security reasons they say they hope to return them next week. this comes two weeks and two days after the deadly attack on the mission in benghazi. even though the administration initially and repeatedly denied that assault was terrorism. it was at the same time working with the assumption that was just that. >> rick: special reporter bret baier even though the obama white house they said it was due to reaction to a youtube clip insulting the muslims they actually knew it was a terror attack. was there a cover-up? why would the white house internally classify something as terror and send ambassador susan rice to so many talk shows days later to claim was spontaneous? >> it does appear there was a

cover-up. there are many reporters asking questions. you are told what she was operating on best information she had and she was couching it as most recent information. she was specific and she was so specific but it was contrary to common sense. there is no -- to compare to what happened in cairo and movie caused it. protestors usually don't have mortars and things like that. media had a disturbing lack of curiosity about this and holding their feet to the fire. >> there is also another element the 24/7 news cycle the desire to get something out to the public arena quickly often brings mistakes like this. think of colin powell and the demonstration at the u.n. supposedly of wmd's in iraq.

he was talking about what he thought at the time was true. it may or may not have turned out to be true and the stuff may have gone to syria. this the function of the news cycle. >> the statement months in preparation, colin powell. this was the opposite. they were trying to play rope-a-dope with the media. it's 17 days after the attack on the consulate determined to be al-qaeda related or something like that. that is triumph for them in terms of clogging up the issue for two and a half weeks. >> rick: political motivation this is white house administration that doesn't like to talk about a war on terror. that wants to create the impression the narrative that al-qaeda is weak to the point of being ineffective and certainly a terror attack by an al-qaeda backed group on our consulate smacked in the face of all of that?

>> precisely. that is why you had this mad spinning and unwillingness to back off until the facts won't let you do anything else. the ridiculous notion this was brought about something else. there were two attacks. one may or may not have been related to the consulate to some people protesting. why don't we know the answer to that question. there was another attack four hours later and secret annex. it was because of the media we know this was a c.i.a. insulation installation. >> as mark twain a lie can get halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on. media has gone on to other subjects and back to campaign and david muir asked romney how come you are behind. so mission accomplished even

though the truth is victim. >> we know one thing for sure, if it was a republican president there would have been calls for independent council and investigations by congress and suffix gate would have been next to libya. >> somebody talking about benghazi gate already. >> the goff ball is gone. replacement sent packing the real refs back on the job. did the media blitz forced them to end the lunacy on the field? we'll tackle that next on news watch. a little bit more vanilla? this is great! [ male announcer ] at humana, we believe there's never been a better time to share your passions... because the results... are you having fun doing this? yeah. that's a very nice cake! [ male announcer ] well, you can't beat them. [ giggles ] ohh!

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