"I Won't Watch CNN! Ernie Pyle, I Miss You!" Says Author Michael Class

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) October 23, 2006 -- On October 19, 2006, CNN aired a video obtained from America's enemy, the Islamic Army of Iraq, showing an Islamic Army sniper targeting and killing an American soldier.

"Like many Americans, I am shocked and outraged by CNN's decision to air the video. The video is enemy propaganda, designed to discourage American support for the war effort," says history book author Michael S. Class. "War correspondents of the past knew better."

Class is the author of a new history book for kids: Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame. In the book, Anthony, the author�s real-life son, travels through time to meet the heroes of America's past. Advanced digital photography places Anthony in real historical photographs of Charles Lindbergh, Neil Armstrong, Thomas Edison, Jonas Salk, FDR, Lou Gehrig, and Audie Murphy. Anthony�s conversations with the heroes of the past are based on things they really said. The Web site, www.MagicPictureFrame.com, displays some of the book's amazing photographs.

Anthony meets American war correspondent Ernie Pyle on Normandy beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Ernie Pyle writes the following words in his tattered notebook: "Now that it is over it seems to me a pure miracle that we ever took the beach at all. In this column I want to tell you what this battle entailed, so that you can know and appreciate and forever be humbly grateful to those both dead and alive who did it for you."

Anthony wonders: "Why are there no reporters like Ernie Pyle in my time?"

"Ernie Pyle's style of reporting seemed strange to Anthony," explains Class, "because Ernie Pyle made it clear which side he was on. Ernie Pyle never glorified war, but he explained combat in terms of the sacrifices that American soldiers made on behalf of the people back home. Pyle wrote of the American warrior with a heart-of-gold, fighting the good fight against evil, fighting for a just and moral cause."

Ernie Pyle was one of America's most famous and beloved war correspondents during World War II. Pyle set a new journalistic standard by moving among the soldiers on the front lines. His reporting gave the American people a closeness to war that they had never experienced before. Ernie Pyle died on April 18, 1945, while reporting on the Battle of Okinawa in the Pacific.

"In the new World War," explains Class, "it seems that journalists follow American soldiers into battle only to report on what goes wrong, to focus attention on mistakes, or to get the story from the enemy's point of view. When was the last time you read a newspaper article telling you about the bravery, courage, or success of our troops in battle? Can you imagine a TV news anchor closing a news broadcast with the words: Godspeed to our troops, and our prayers for the swift defeat of the enemy?"

Ernie Pyle was revered by Americans, but Class thinks that history might not be kind to modern-day journalists.

"I won't watch CNN!" says Class. "Ernie Pyle, I miss you!"

Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame was named Ou