CNN & Anderson Cooper: "Disgusting!"

"... CNN obtained a personal journal that belonged to the slain American ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and broadcast reports based on its contents against the wishes of the Stevens family, according to relatives and State Department officials who were asked to intervene by the family.CNN obtained the journal in Benghazi, where Mr. Stevens and three other Americans were killed in an attack by militants on the American consulate in the city on Sept. 11. It wasn't clear exactly how CNN obtained the ambassador's writings.
By finding and using Mr. Stevens's personal handwritten thoughts, CNN provoked an unusually sharp condemnation from top officials at the State Department, who called the network's conduct "disgusting."
"Not a proud moment in CNN's history," said Philippe Reines, senior adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
A CNN representative said in a statement issued late Saturday in response to the criticism that the news organization did not initially report on the existence of a journal "out of respect for the family, but we felt there were issues raised in the journal which required full reporting." (CNN decided!)....... 
Family members and U.S. officials said they were surprised when CNN anchor Anderson Cooper appeared to use the information from the journal, attributing it to a source familiar with Mr. Stevens's thinking.
In that broadcast on Wednesday, Mr. Cooper said the ambassador was worried about security threats in Benghazi and said he believed he was on an al Qaeda hit list.......
Mr. Reines, Ms. Clinton's adviser, said: "Given the truth of how this was handled, CNN patting themselves on the back is disgusting." He said it took repeated prodding to get CNN to agree to return the journal. "When the seniormost levels of CNN were finally reached, they needed to be convinced to do the right thing."