L.A. Manhunt Suspect Christopher Dorner Praises CNN, MSNBC Talent in Manifesto

The fugitive ex-cop's writings also single out Charlie Sheen as being "effin awesome."

Law-enforcement officials are engaged in a dramatic, newsmaking manhunt to capture Christopher Dorner, an ex-L.A. cop who allegedly has embarked on a killing spree that has left three people dead with promises of more to come.

Those promises of more mayhem are courtesy of a lengthy manifesto Dorner posted online. Reporters no doubt are poring through it, and some might be finding that their own names are included in the massive screed. And some journalists, upon learning that their colleagues are mentioned, are redacting those portions. Some even have taken out a mention of Charlie Sheen.

"Charlie Sheen, you're effin awesome," Dorner wrote in a random part of his diatribe.

The fugitive’s manifesto mostly consists of a big list of perceived slights against himself delivered by schoolmates, teachers, administrators, strangers and, primarily, members of the Los Angeles Police Department, which fired him three years ago.

Halfway into the manifesto, though, Dorner heaps praise on his favorite journalists, a list primarily made up of reporters and commentators at MSNBC and CNN, along with a few local Los Angeles personalities. Fareed Zakaria of CNN is singled out for scorn, while Piers Morgan receives the bulk of Dorner’s praise.

“Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough, Pat Harvey, Brian Williams, Soledad Obrien (sic), Wolf Blitzer, Meredith Viera (sic), Tavis Smiley, and Anderson Cooper, keep up the great work and follow Cronkite’s lead,” writes Dorner.

“I hold many of you in the same regard as Tom Brokaw and the late Peter Jennings. Cooper, stop nagging and berating your guest, they’re your [guest],” Dorner continued. "Mr. Scarborough, we met at McGuire’s pub in P-cola in 2002 when I was stationed there. It was an honor conversing with you about politics, family, and life.

Willie Geist, you’re a talented and charismatic journalist. Stop with all the talk show shenanigans and get back to your core of reporting. Your future is brighter than most,” Dorner wrote.

Another lengthy section includes this: “Revoke the citizenship of Fareed Zakaria and deport him. I’ve never heard a positive word about America or its interest from his mouth, ever. On the same day, give Piers Morgan an indefinite resident alien and Visa card. Mr. Morgan, the problem that many American gun owners have with you and your continuous discussion of gun control is that you are not an American citizen and have an accent that is distinct and clarifies that you are a foreigner. I want you to know that I agree with you 100% on enacting stricter firearm laws but you must understand that your critics will always have in the back of their mind that you are native to a country that we won our sovereignty from while using firearms as a last resort in defense and you come from a country that has no legal private ownership of firearms. That is disheartening to American gun owners and rightfully so.”

But while several media outlets have chosen to report on the contents of the manifesto, most have been leaving out Dorner’s views on the media. In some cases where news media allegedly presents the entire manifesto, the portion about the media isn't included.

At the website of Los Angeles TV station KTLA, for example, a headline reads: “Christopher Dorner’s Manifesto (Disturbing Content and Language).” What follows appears to be the entire manifesto, minus the paragraphs where Dorner discusses the media. At the end, KTLA notes that it “has removed the names of a number of officers out of respect for their privacy,” though it doesn’t mention that entire paragraphs pertaining to the media are missing. The KTLA version also redacted mention of Sheen.

The entire manifesto can be read in many places on the Internet, including here.

Email: Paul.Bond@thr.com