Could we actually be watching the birth of CNN

[grantcart]

CNN has had the architecture for some time. Can you imagine if CNN were to become an aggressive spotlight talking to whistleblowers and holding corporations accountable?

As Michael Moore points out they get a lot of advertising from big Pharma but Dr. Gupta never runs any stories about big Pharma malfeasence.

CNN does well during disasters. Anderson becomes a world class journalist.

Now the are going after BP. They are talking to whistleblowers showing how in 2005 BP ignored problems at Texas City where BP employees begged for help before that huge explosion.

If this continues maybe it lifts CNN out of its terrible ratings slump. That would give it a greater economic incentive to become an actual news outlet than trying to please advertisers.

Is this why O'Reilly is actually asking some questions that don't go along with the GOP line?

I know I know. We can still hope can't we?

[truedelphi]

1. Anderson Cooper has been excellent on the Oil Spill.

And being there in the Gulf coastal towns talking to people.

Fabulous coverage.

And about a week ago, Gupta really took on the Big Chemical manufacturers and the pesticide industry recently with a one hour in depth presentation of how toxic our life styles have beenere.

I expected him to dismiss many of the activists on the issue, but instead he featured some of them.

Really changed my mind about him. (Though like you mention, he has yet to take on the Big Pharma people. But then, when every other ad on CNN is for a Big Pahamra product, it is easy to see why that is as it is.)

[Warpy]

5. As I recall, CNN led the pack on Katrina, too

and even Pox News followed the lead on that one, it was so outrageously bungled at all levels of government.

Every network has a parent company up to its eyeballs in something shady. Back in the bad old days when I bothered with broadcast news, I noticed that even the biggest stories about tobacco would never appear on ABC, for instance.

Televised news has to be cut free of interference from those parent corporations. Until and unless that happens, I won't bother with them. They've lied by omission too many times, the drug conflict on CNN being one of the more egregious examples.

[Hosnon]

9. Yep. Anderson Cooper is a huge asset to CNN. He did an amazing job with Katrina and I trust him

more than anyone else regarding this crisis. Maddow is a close second.

[lunatica]

2. I thought the same thing during Katrina

And they went right back to their piss poor reporting. Then during the Haiti earthquake both Anderson and Gupta jumped in and CNN bragged all over the place about what great coverage they were giving. Then they went right back to their piss poor reporting.

So now they're all excited about the BP Oil Gusher so naturally they jump in again.

But after a while it looks like it takes the most horrific disasters to get CNN to do any true journalism. During normal times not so much.

[Andy823]

3. As for Bill O

After I saw him go after Palin on his show, and she looked really pissed, I thought that Palin is so bad for the GOP that even Bill O has finally had enough of her insane dribble! It's like Glen Beck. The man is insane, and his ratings are dropping because people, even gullible people, can only take so much insanity before they come to their senses. I have argued with people on other boards about Beck, and they have defended him time after time, but lately I have seen some of the defenders make comments about Beck's rants, and some have actually said they have stopped watching him! The same is going to happen to Palin and all the other GOP morons who "ONLY" go on Fox to give interviews. If Bill O starts asking "real" questions and keeps on trying to get "real" answers from people like Palin, how long will it be before that nut job Beck does the same thing, and let me tell you, when Beck starts acting half way sane, we will know something is going on! :evilgrin:

As for CNN, I too have found that Anderson Cooper has done a great job when disasters hit, and his coverage on the BP spill has been by far one do the best on TV! I just hope all the news channels start doing some "real" journalism, and start going after those who are trying to sell us all out to the corporations, no matter what party they are in!

[WeDidIt]

4. CNN is pretty much my exclusive cable news diet now.

I turn a lot of it off, Blitzer, Crowley, and King are all fucked, but I really like Anderson Cooper.

Too bad it looks like they're going to put Spitzer into a Crossfire format. I would have liked him, but I'll never watch another Screamer program again in my life.

[doc03]

6. I think if CNN would stick to news instead of trying to be Faux Lite

they would get ratings. Here is a thought how about going out and doing real investigative journalism for a change and leave the poltics to Faux and MSNBC? I would fire Wolf Blizer, Candy Crawley and Larry King day one.

[asjr]

7. CNN is like Chris Matthews. You never

know if they have taken their medications or not. I fully believe Chris M. is bi-polar. There are times when I want to pull the plug permanently.

[UndertheOcean]

8. CNN is Anderson Cooper, at least for me right now.