Media Bias Outrage of the Week - Self-obsessed Aaron Brown

Citizens Coalition for Responsible Media ^ | 06/17/2002 | Peacerose

[Peacerose]

Self-obsessed Aaron Brown

06/17/2002
It comes as no surprise to media bias observers that CNN's Aaron Brown reports every story as if it is all about him. Last Monday night, 6/10/2002, he went over the top.

"Good evening again. I'm Aaron Brown. So here's a nice day at the office. The administration says the half-century-old doctrine of containment in matters military is outdated and the United States in the future will exercise, if it so chooses, a first strike option against terrorists in those countries that harbor them. We've always said we are not a country that starts wars -- and mostly that's been true, though perhaps the thugs who ran the island of Grenada might argue the point. It is another sign the world is changing, that the whole notion of war as we used to know it is changing as well. And it's not the only thing that's changing.

"An American citizen, Abdullah al Muhajir, is being held in a military brig with no access to a lawyer, none of the other rights afforded to a citizen, because the government says he is part of a terrorist plot to detonate a dirty bomb. He has been held uncharged for a month and now has been declared an enemy combatant, which, according to the Attorney General, is the legal justification for this extraordinary action. I'm not a lawyer, and I have no idea whether this guy was planning something terrible or not, nor am I especially interested in seeing a bunch of terrorists running around the country blowing up buildings and killing lots of people while they are out on bail. But I'm also not especially interested in seeing the government deny citizens their most basic protection against governmental abuse. But that apparently is the tradeoff -- at least the administration believes it to be -- and it is an onerous tradeoff, one more reason to hate what happened on September 11th."

The sarcastic comment, "Here's a nice day at the office", can be read to mean that the world is not spinning along on Aaron's beliefs. Boo, hoo, hoo . . .

But then, he launches into the story of the day by totally blowing off the aspects related to public safety and national security. As Aaron Brown sees it, there is no doubt at all that the government is doing something wrong! And no possibility that his fellow citizens are safer with this terrorist locked up! The whole point of this horrifying tale is not that an American citizen would engage in such treasonous behavior, seeking to murder and terrorize his fellow countrymen. Oh, no. The point is that this guy's civil rights are endangered!

A number of Brown's viewers wasted no time in pointing out the obvious. The following evening, he opened his newscast with these comments:

"Good evening again. I'm Aaron Brown. I suppose I knew we were destined to do this bit of business tonight about this time last night. There's been quite a spirited e-mail discussion today about the case of Jose Padilla, the American being held in a military brig, who the government alleges was part of a plot to explode a dirty bomb in the United States.

"There was both praise and condemnation, and I was uncomfortable with both. For one, I didn't say the government was wrong. In this space yesterday I said I'm not sure, but denying an American, any American the most basic rights is extraordinary. Indeed, as best I can tell, it's only happened one other time, and that it might be necessary and right, I said, is just one more reason to hate what happened to all of us on the 11th of September. The blame, it seemed to me, was fairly placed on the terrorists.

"Without doing what my favorite boss accuses me of sometimes doing, excessive hand-wringing, how can we not ask questions about this matter? Here you have a man denied a lawyer, a formal charge, the presumption of innocence, something absolutely antithetical to American life -- how can we avoid asking questions about the law in this case? What kind of reporters would we be? And I don't honestly believe even the most critical viewer, if he took a step back, would want us to stop asking these questions -- not taking a stand, not saying this is right and that is wrong, but asking questions...."

Just asking questions? Certainly the guy's civil rights are part of the story, but it is only the most important part of the story if you assume that the evil John Ashcroft is more concerned with eroding our civil rights than in saving American lives! This is where Aaron Brown's bias rests: In placing the civil rights question above the basic who, what, when, where, why, and how of the arrest of a traitor.

Please join me in urging Mr. Brown to pull his head out. The contact information is below.

CNN
New York Bureau
5 Penn Plaza, 20th Floor
New York, New York 10001

E-mail

Read more here:

MRC CyberAlert, 06/11/2002
MRC CyberAlert, 06/14/2002

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Some additional commentary on Aaron Brown's coverage of this story from the panel at FNC's News Watch:

"To me, I watched the Aaron Brown thing, and I thought: 'I don't care what you're interested in.' I'm old-fashioned enough to say, if you're going to raise skepticism, say, you know, 'Democrats were saying they question the timing,' not 'I'm not interested in hearing about a lot of arrests.' I thought it was way off base." - Jane Hall, journalism professor at American University

"I'm not interested in what Aaron Brown is not interested in and I wonder if this is some kind of new trend in anchoring. This guy, Aaron Brown, and I really don't like to be personal, but there's a real principle here. He uses the first person singular pronoun the way carpenters use nails. Always 'I,' 'I', 'I.'" - Eric Burns, host of News Watch

Alrighty, then!

MRC CyberAlert, 06/17/2002

[E.G.C.]

Here are some additional thoughts from me on Aaron Brown.

Someone on another thread gave the impression that Aaron brown is a reputable journalist and that he liked what he was doing. Well, good for him but the reality is not a whole lot of freepers share his admiration of Brown or think very highly of him.

I think it's obvious by what Peacerose and the MRC have researched on this subject and how Brown covered this issue. Progressive viewpoints are not neutral. Clearly Aaron brown has a major credibility problem just like all the other journalists at CNN.

Always check your sources before you believe anything they say.
Regards.

[Brian Allen]

Thank you.

I believe your argument might best be directed at the author of the following piece? -- FReegards -- Brian:

<< To: Peacerose

"An American citizen, Abdullah al Muhajir,..

Abdullah may not be a citizen any longer, Aaron. READ your passport. It does mention activities that may revoke ones US citizenship. Joining the al Quida is one. Aaron Brown does his research about as well as Robert Scheer.

7 posted on 6/19/02 9:20 PM Pacific by elbucko >>

[Copernicus]

I believe your argument might best be directed at the author of the following piece.

It is unfortunate the message style of this board discourages general replies and messages.

Orion has written an excellent summary of the case against the suspension of due process.

It helps distinguish between what Mr.Brown's views are (or should be) in this case and his overall Socialist philosophy.