Fickle CNN slouches to the right

[UpInArms]

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/print_story.asp?print=1&guid={696E0CD1-94E8-4AF6-80C6-40BC8E05EC2B}&siteid=mktw

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- There CNN goes again.

The cable network's Headline News outlet is poised to give a primetime slot to radio talk-show host Glenn Beck. He goes against everything that CNN has claimed to stand for -- a first-rate pedigree, a non-biased point of view and understated excellence. Beck's chief qualification is that he personifies controversy.

Then again, who do I think I'm kidding with this high-minded blather? OF COURSE, controversy alone is enough. In fact, it's PLENTY. If Beck catches on with his own unique audience, he'll get a shot to go on CNN. Then CNN will reckon that Bill O'Reilly will no longer be a factor on Fox and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough can go find himself a new country.

<snip>

At CNN, Headline News is considered to be a diamond in the (very) rough. Because it spews breaking news all the time (when, of course, it isn't showing some airhead Hollywood-gossip nonsense), the station frees up CNN to show prime-time "programs," starring the likes of Anderson Cooper, Paula Zahn and Aaron Br -- oops! Aaron Brown was terminated last year. Maybe I'm just projecting my readers' wishes that his show was still on CNN.

<snip>

Most of today's celebrity gossip-loving TV news viewers would be hard-pressed to name the Secretary of State, much less follow CNN's bouncing ball from format to format. Is CNN a liberal-oriented network, as right-wingers are wont to swear? Or, is CNN simply what it professes to be in private -- a butt-kicking, hard-news factory that has no use for chatty anchors, like an unnamed rival (Fox, of course), or bland newsreaders, as with another unidentified foe (that would be MSNBC)?

...more...

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Probably not for long

Hiring Glenn Beck is the equivalent of having an attack of projectile diarrhea during a Big Date, right after she invites you up to her place for a nightcap. It won't too long before Beck utterly humiliates CNN.

Pity poor CNN. Since Uncle Ted left, they're always a day late and a dollar short.

Actually, I'm lying. I don't pity CNN at all.

--p!

[niyad]

2. I gave cnn a tiny amount of credit during katrina, but if they actually

are hiring beck and the other two idiots, will definitely not be watching them again, and will tell them so. how utterly disgusting.

[polar]

3. CNN.com frontpage

Check this out...earlier today I check cnn.com to see "Terri Schiavo's former husband remarries." and now it reads "Terri Schiavo's widower remarries:

[DemBones DemBones]

7. At least they corrected it. I get really annoyed when

the media refer to "ex-President Clinton" rather than "former President Clinton." "Ex-President" makes it sound as if he were convicted and removed from office after being impeached. Instead, he was judged not guilty by the Senate and served out the rest of his second term.

Even Nixon, though he resigned in disgrace was a "former President." I think certain nefarious RWers are behind the "ex-President Clinton" just as they are behind "the Democrat Party." Nixon was a prince compared to today's GOP.

[JPZenger]

4. I WAS a Loyal Watcher of CNN

I used to watch CNN everyday. Now I can't stand to watch it for more than a minute at a time. Bring back Ted Turner.

Not only is the news and opinion shifted to the right, but it is dumbed down. The appearance of anchorwomen seems to be the priority. Too much of headline news has been taken over by the People magazine division of Time Warner. And there is far too much coverage of crime trials.

[TheGolem]

5. Air America Television

There is Link TV but it is not for prime time. If IMUS can have his own radio show on MSNBC, the Air America can have Mike Malloy, Sam Seeder, et al on television with 24 hour of honest news.

TheGolem

[SuperWonk]

6. Bogus

I still haven't gotten over this one.
Glenn Beck? Give me a break.

This whole movement by CNN is only going to drive away their loyal fans.

[DemBones DemBones]

8. I quit watching CNN long ago, but the other night I decided to

watch the last part of Lou Dobbs because MSNBC was crap. After two minutes or less, I knew Lou had gone off the deep end. He used to be moderate and rational; you might not agree with everything he said but he was fair about allowing guests who disagreed with his positions to have their say. When I tuned in the other night, he was talking about Democrats as if they were enemies of the U.S.

Do you think Lou's been replaced by an alien or is this the new CNN? I heard what their new news director said about how the New Orleans families are like the 9/11 families, there are only about ten of them that keep showing up again and again -- is there a contest for which media whore can make the most callous statement?