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The Access of Evil-- CNN's Duplicity
various FR links
| 04-14-03
| The Heavy Equipment Guy
Posted on 04/14/2003 3:17:35 PM PDT by backhoe
Reprehensible. Access is more important than principle---or truth in reporting. But wait a minute----didn't CNN do the same thing during the Clinton Administration?
CNN knewThe Washington Times ^ | Monday April 14 2003 | EDITORIALWhere to begin? First, as the chief news executive of the only truly worldwide television news network, Jordan was literally the one man in the entire world in a position to "unbottle" those awful truths. Moreover, those awful truths were not only newsworthy, but would have been history-making -
had they been reported.
I think that most people are missing the real point of all of this. Sure Saddam was a sadistic madman, but at least he wasn't George Bush. It doesn't matter to these people that they were used. They were happy to be used. Their hatred of conservatives, George Bush, and America in general trumps all to this very day.
This CNN story should not be forgotten. We have to keep this alive in some way
This astonishing confession doesn't just undermine CNN's claim to be "the most trusted name in news" - it wreaks incalculable damage on all journalists' ability to be trusted by the American people.
The elistism of CNN is incredible. What else aren't they telling us?
I bet CNN has the same 'see-no-evil, hear-no-evil' "policy" with Castro's Cuba.
CUBA LINKS:
TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: accessofevil; cnn; journalism; journalists
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1
posted on
04/14/2003 3:17:35 PM PDT
by
backhoe
To: All
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2
posted on
04/14/2003 3:19:22 PM PDT
by
Support Free Republic
(Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
To: backhoe
But what about CSPAN?
(you didn't think I could let this one go, did you?)
:)))
3
posted on
04/14/2003 3:24:10 PM PDT
by
TomB
To: backhoe
CNN KNEW !
4
posted on
04/14/2003 3:26:15 PM PDT
by
ChadGore
(HEY CNN: No Blood for ratings)
To: backhoe
CNN is the propaganda arm of the anti-American Socialist worldwide conspiracy that includes radical Muslims, Communists and Democrats.
Defame, defund, defang the Access of Evil.
The Left cannot be debated, persuaded or convinced.
They can only be vanquished.
5
posted on
04/14/2003 3:28:12 PM PDT
by
Enduring Freedom
(To smash the ugly face of Socialism is our mission)
To: Enduring Freedom
I dearly hope the presence of CNN in airports, hotels, other countries, etc, begins to fade a little faster...
To: backhoe
The big story NOT mentioned here is that CNN's Brent Sadler proceeded on live TV to make an armed reconnocense of Tikrit in which (if you listen to your VHS tapes carefully) Sadler CLEARLY states that his security (hired gunsel) opened up with an AK-47 on some Iraqis that "looked threatening".
Then, 5 or 8 minutes later. AFTER they fired on these Iraqi people, Sadler (who was driving) ran a road block and was fired on. (What did he expect?).
The key point is CNN Fired first!
Further, the Marines were only an hour behind them, so any captivity CNN might have suffered would have been short lived at worst.
So in the chase for a scoop to save its' failing rateings, CNN engages in combat ahead of the front line.
As far as I know Iraq never hurt any news media (although several were hurt by U.S. fire), and yet CNN finds it necessary go hire armed thugs and shoot their way into and out of Tikrit.
7
posted on
04/14/2003 3:35:23 PM PDT
by
konaice
To: backhoe
CNN = Collaborators' News Network
Still reporting on that great Cuban health care system while dissidents are imprisoned, tortured and shot just off camera.
8
posted on
04/14/2003 3:38:39 PM PDT
by
Travis McGee
(----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
To: backhoe; Freedom'sWorthIt; Mo1; TomB; Wphile; Brad's Gramma
I love you, man. :-)
9
posted on
04/14/2003 3:40:54 PM PDT
by
Howlin
(It's a great day to be an American -- or an Iraqi!)
To: TomB
you didn't think I could let this one go, did youWell, I tried to be hopeful!
I was gathering these links when the "C-word" caught my eye and just zoomed in without further thought...
We used to sell a sign that read:
"Be sure Brain is in gear
before engaging mouth..."
10
posted on
04/14/2003 3:42:02 PM PDT
by
backhoe
To: ChadGore
Thanks! I'll borrow your tag line~
11
posted on
04/14/2003 3:43:22 PM PDT
by
backhoe
(HEY CNN: No Blood for ratings)
To: Howlin
I love you, man. :-)I'm a girl BTTT!
12
posted on
04/14/2003 3:45:40 PM PDT
by
Brad's Gramma
(Become a Monthly Donor to Free Republic! Please?)
To: Hazzardgate; Enduring Freedom
Just about every place I go with a waiting room has CNN on... I think I'll start complaining.
13
posted on
04/14/2003 3:45:42 PM PDT
by
backhoe
(HEY CNN: No Blood for ratings)
To: Brad's Gramma
I was talking to backhoe and he WONDERFUL lists!
He's simply the best there is!
14
posted on
04/14/2003 3:47:11 PM PDT
by
Howlin
(It's a great day to be an American -- or an Iraqi!)
To: konaice
So in the chase for a scoop to save its' failing rateings, CNN engages in combat ahead of the front line. I actually hadn't thought of it that way- thanks for your perspective.
15
posted on
04/14/2003 3:47:28 PM PDT
by
backhoe
(HEY CNN: No Blood for ratings)
To: Howlin
I KNOW that!
:-)
16
posted on
04/14/2003 3:48:20 PM PDT
by
Brad's Gramma
(Become a Monthly Donor to Free Republic! Please?)
To: Travis McGee
Don't get me started on the Jackal Pack Press and their sycophantic treatment of Castro & Cuba & a host of bloody tyrants... but thanks for another good tag line!
17
posted on
04/14/2003 3:49:39 PM PDT
by
backhoe
(CNN = Collaborators' News Network)
To: Howlin
{{{hugs}}} to you and yours, Howlin!
18
posted on
04/14/2003 3:50:46 PM PDT
by
backhoe
(CNN = Collaborators' News Network)
To: backhoe
"What did they know and when did they know it?"
To: backhoe
I really appreciate the time that you spend gathering all this information together for us.
I, on the other hand, haven't even managed to make a folder in My Favorites to drag the URLs I've saved about this into. :-)
20
posted on
04/14/2003 3:53:02 PM PDT
by
Howlin
(It's a great day to be an American -- or an Iraqi!)
To: DeltaZulu
"What did they know and when did they know it?" I strongly suspect they and all the alphabet-soup networks knew a lot for a long, long time-- they are paid to be professionaly curious.
21
posted on
04/14/2003 3:54:56 PM PDT
by
backhoe
(The Dungeon doors ARE swinging open- what will the Left now say?)
To: backhoe
Joseph Conrad had it pegged. The deep pleasure and bindings of sharing dark secrets have led them all up the creek into hell.
22
posted on
04/14/2003 3:58:44 PM PDT
by
bvw
To: Howlin
Thanks- I really think we are witnessing a revolution in the exchange of information... it's a combination of sites like this, the blogs, and talk radio all joining together in a loose, free-wheeling confederation where ideas are passed speedily and mercilessly examined and unspun.
It's a grand time to be a free American!
23
posted on
04/14/2003 3:59:46 PM PDT
by
backhoe
(The Dungeon doors ARE swinging open- what will the Left now say?)
To: bvw
The deep pleasure and bindings of sharing dark secrets have led them all up the creek into hell. Whew! That's a cutting turn of phrase!
24
posted on
04/14/2003 4:02:03 PM PDT
by
backhoe
(Hey CNN! No Blood for Ratings!)
To: backhoe
"unspun"
I agree whole-heartedly. And it's about bloody time....
To: Hazzardgate
And it's about bloody time.... Indeed, it is past time...
26
posted on
04/14/2003 4:10:52 PM PDT
by
backhoe
(CNN = Collaborator's News Network)
To: backhoe
CNN: The Castro News Network By L. Brent Bozell III,
President of the Media Research Center
May 14, 2002
Jimmy Carter's visit to Havana this week should spur some nice exclusives for CNN, since it's the only American news agency with a bureau in the Cuban capital. Five years ago, the U.S. government and Fidel Castro agreed to let CNN open a Havana bureau, the first permanent American news presence since Associated Press was expelled 28 years before, with the understanding that "news gathering activities within Cuba be unconditioned and unrestricted." Sen. Jesse Helms supported the CNN presence, saying Mr. Castro was accepting "the rope with which to hang himself."
But CNN hasn't treated its Cuban exclusivity as a gold mine for tough scoops. In a Media Research Center study of five years of news coverage out of CNN in Havana, only four out of 212 news stories (less than two percent) focused on the harsh political realities of Cuba’s rigid one-party dictatorship, and only seven CNN reports (three percent) focused on the peaceful dissidents that “President” Castro keeps locked away in his dungeons. By contrast, CNN has done twice as many stories in just the first three months of this year about alleged human rights abuses by the United States against terrorist suspects held at its Cuban base at Guantanamo Bay.
Even these numbers are generous. In one story on one-party elections, CNN reporter Lucia Newman brazenly declared there was "no dubious campaign spending here" and "no mud slinging...[in] a system President Castro boasts is the most democratic and cleanest in the world."
Reporting like Newman's explains why it made sense for Castro to welcome Ted Turner's network in 1997, since Turner had spent millions producing pro-Castro propaganda films on his networks over the years, including a ring-kissing 1990 interview Turner himself awarded the dean of dictators.
The celebrity treatment has continued for Castro. In February of 2000, CNN's show "Newsstand" devoted one of its "Cool Digs" segments to describing the contents of Castro's office, right down to the worn tips of his erasers. "Years ago, our host worked as an attorney, defending poor people," declared anchorman Stephen Frazier. "He's Fidel Castro, Cuba's leader since 1959, who has been making waves lately in his fight for the return of young Elian Gonzalez." Instead of focusing on the regime's abuses of human rights, CNN has often focused on the personal instead of the political, with saccharine stories on cigars, promising young ballerinas, or a 94-year-old guitar player.
Most ironically, CNN has offered only two stories over five years on Cuba's lack of freedom of the press, and both of them ignored Castro's threats to expel foreign journalists who would "insult" his regime with any journalistic vigor. Reports on Cuban press crackdowns by Reporters Without Borders or other pro-free press organizations over the past five years have also been ignored by CNN.
The toothless performance documented in the MRC study mostly occurred when CNN was under old management, before Walter Isaacson and his crew took over last summer. Isaacson can and should issue new marching orders: CNN should use its Havana advantage and commit to increasing the amount of Cuba news, regularly reporting on the welfare of Cuba’s dissidents and doing real investigative journalism that will tell the real story of life in Cuba the way that no other U.S.-based television network can tell it.
It might look like CNN believes it's too dangerous for its Havana-based reporters to be as adversarial with the Castro regime as it is with America's elected leaders. But whether it reflects fear or favor, the lack of journalistic independence that CNN’s displayed in the past five years only fosters the harmful illusion that Fidel Castro has survived real, Western-style media scrutiny.
27
posted on
04/14/2003 4:17:10 PM PDT
by
PhilDragoo
(Hitlery: das Butch von Buchenvald)
To: PhilDragoo
Wonderful info! Thanks!
28
posted on
04/14/2003 4:18:27 PM PDT
by
backhoe
(Hey CNN! No Blood for Ratings!)
To: backhoe; Luis Gonzalez; Cincinatus' Wife
Megaphone for a Dictator CNN’s Coverage of Castro’s Cuba, 1997-2002
Executive Summary
May 9, 2002
Five years ago, CNN became the first U.S.-based news organization with a full-time news bureau in communist Cuba in nearly 30 years. As an independent and highly-regarded news organization, CNN’s mission was to transmit the reality of Castro’s dictatorship to American audiences. In 1997, then-White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry told reporters that “reporting of truth about the conditions in Cuba would further...peaceful, democratic change in Cuba.” CNN officials also had high hopes. Incoming Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman assured viewers “we will be given total freedom to do what we want and to work without prior censorship.”
CNN’s Havana bureau now has a five-year track record that can be evaluated, and the results are not good. Media Research Center analysts reviewed all 212 stories about the Cuban government or Cuban life that were presented on CNN’s prime time news programs from March 17, 1997, the date the Havana bureau was established, through March 17, 2002. MRC’s analysis found that instead of exposing the totalitarian regime that runs Cuba, CNN has allowed itself to become just another component of Fidel Castro’s propaganda machine.
On FNC's Fox & Friends on May 14 Rich Noyes discussed the MRC's study of CNN's Cuba coverage, "Megaphone for a Dictator"
Major findings:
CNN gave spokesmen for the communist regime a major advantage, broadcasting sound bites from Fidel Castro and his spokesmen six times more frequently than non-communist groups such as Catholic church leaders and peaceful dissidents.
CNN’s stories included six times as many sound bites from everyday Cubans who voiced agreement with Castro and supported his policies than quotes from Cuban citizens disagreeing with the government. This left American audiences with the impression that Castro’s communist government is overwhelmingly popular among the Cuban public.
CNN provided very little coverage of Cuba’s dissidents, who were the focus of only seven of the 212 Cuba stories broadcast during the past five years, or about three percent of CNN’s total coverage. That’s fewer than half as many stories as CNN produced in just the first three months of 2002 about alleged human rights abuses by the United States against prisoners held at its base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
CNN also practically ignored Cuba’s lack of democracy, a topic which was featured in only four stories (or just under two percent). One of those reports, in January 1998, consisted of Lucia Newman trumpeting Cuba’s rigged election as superior to those in the U.S. because they have “no dubious campaign spending” and “no mud slinging.”
Much of CNN’s coverage of Cuba focused on the tiniest slices of everyday life, which created the sense that Cuba was basically a normal country, not one in the grip of a dictatorship’s secret security apparatus. Instead of focusing on the regime’s human rights abuses, CNN showed Cubans waiting for ice cream cones, profiled a promising young ballerina, and interviewed a 94-year-old guitar player.
On CNN, Castro was treated more as a celebrity than a tyrant. Rather than revealing the dirty secrets of his dictatorship to the world, CNN reported on Castro’s 73rd birthday celebrations and, in February 2000, featured the dictator’s office in the “Cool Digs” segment of CNN’s Newsstand.
The MRC report concluded that “CNN could have used its unique bureau to add to the American public’s knowledge of the only totalitarian state in the Western hemisphere. But instead of enlightening the public about the regime’s repression, CNN’s Havana office has mainly provided Castro and his subordinates with a megaphone to defend their dictatorship and denigrate their democratic opponents.”
If CNN is interested in improving its coverage, the MRC report included the following suggestions: 1) increase the amount of Cuba news; 2) commit to doing real investigative journalism in Cuba; 3) broadcast regular reports on the welfare and status of political prisoners held by Castro; and 4) promote the reporting efforts of Cuba’s independent journalists. But if CNN cannot or will not commit to improving its coverage, it should close its Havana bureau rather than perpetuate the fiction that it is helping Americans better understand the realities of Cuba under Castro.
29
posted on
04/14/2003 4:20:47 PM PDT
by
PhilDragoo
(Hitlery: das Butch von Buchenvald)
To: DeltaZulu
Add one more question to that: Why did they do it?
30
posted on
04/14/2003 4:23:35 PM PDT
by
mewzilla
To: PhilDragoo
Thanks again!
31
posted on
04/14/2003 4:29:47 PM PDT
by
backhoe
(For Evil to prosper, it is only necessary that good men do nothing...)
To: backhoe
CNN - We bury (articles). You dig.
CNN - RIP
32
posted on
04/14/2003 4:39:50 PM PDT
by
Diddley
(Dead, wounded, hidden, or escaped, Saddam is “As good as dead!”)
To: backhoe
It's a grand time to be a free American! With internet access. And with friends who have really great search skills!
33
posted on
04/14/2003 4:48:35 PM PDT
by
Howlin
(It's a great day to be an American -- or an Iraqi!)
To: backhoe; Howlin
Great job backhoe!
Thanks for the ping Howlin! I hope to GOD, CNN goes down BIG TIME for this.
34
posted on
04/14/2003 4:51:28 PM PDT
by
Wphile
To: Howlin
My lovely teenage nieces literally cannot comprehend a time when you couldn't "just go on the 'net and find it."
And I think it's a grand thing, pitfalls and all. People are better off ( generally ) with more information as opposed to more ignorance. We live in exciting times.
35
posted on
04/14/2003 4:54:56 PM PDT
by
backhoe
(For Evil to prosper, it is only necessary that good men do nothing...)
To: Wphile
I share your hope... I know talk radio has been hammering on this for several days so a lot of Americans who would not have otherwise heard of this obscenity are becoming informed.
36
posted on
04/14/2003 5:01:17 PM PDT
by
backhoe
(Just an old keyboard cowboy, ridin' the trackball into the sunset...)
To: backhoe
WHAT DID CNN KNOW AND WHEN DID THEY KNOW IT?
Alas, CNN themselves have answered this question -- at least, where Saddam is concerned.
37
posted on
04/14/2003 5:15:18 PM PDT
by
laz17
(Socialism is the religion of the atheist.)
To: konaice
So in the chase for a scoop to save its' failing rateings, CNN engages in combat ahead of the front line.
As far as I know Iraq never hurt any news media (although several were hurt by U.S. fire), and yet CNN finds it necessary go hire armed thugs and shoot their way into and out of Tikrit. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I watched that live and noticed that they never mentioned that they ran the checkpoint in their taped repeats of that report. I also checked their website article on the incident and it never mentioned it either.
38
posted on
04/14/2003 7:11:33 PM PDT
by
GeorgiaYankee
(Up in Tikrit without a battle!)
To: backhoe
Thanks- I really think we are witnessing a revolution in the exchange of information... it's a combination of sites like this, the blogs, and talk radio all joining together in a loose, free-wheeling confederation where ideas are passed speedily and mercilessly examined and unspun. It's a grand time to be a free American! Yes, a revolution in the exchange of information here in free America.
However, around the world, in most statist countries, brought to you by the governments of these statist countries, CNN broadcasts its propaganda loud and clear.
For goodness sakes, half of CNN international is broadcast from the repressive country of China in a former free city -- a.k.a Hong Kong.
39
posted on
04/14/2003 8:44:27 PM PDT
by
FreeReign
(V5.0 Enterprise Edition)
To: backhoe
This is a great resource!! Bookmarked!
To: GeorgiaYankee
Yes, thats quite true. They did cover this bit up quite nicely.
Luckily, I had a blank tape in the vcr (adding to my collection of off the air recordings of Gulf One) and I tuned in just after they left the abandoned Republican gaurd base and headed into Tikrit. Sadler said several times that they were running the checkpoint. But they dared not repeat that bit on the re-play.
41
posted on
04/14/2003 11:59:32 PM PDT
by
konaice
To: backhoe
42
posted on
04/15/2003 12:34:40 AM PDT
by
backhoe
(The Dungeon doors ARE swinging open- what will the Left now say?)
To: backhoe
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/893425/posts Jordan and the real CNN story: Marzullo reveals network's history of covering up truth
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Tuesday, April 15, 2003 | Tom Marzullo
And it's about time CNN was held accountable for it's obvious bias and lies concerning the entire Arab world. The Palestinians come to mind.
43
posted on
04/15/2003 12:45:52 AM PDT
by
backhoe
(The Dungeon doors ARE swinging open- what will the Left now say?)
To: Cincinatus' Wife
44
posted on
04/15/2003 1:17:32 AM PDT
by
backhoe
(The Dungeon doors ARE swinging open- what will the Left now say?)
To: backhoe
When will this fraud be pulled from airports?
To: Cincinatus' Wife
When will this fraud be pulled from airports? I plan to make a point of complaining to management at every business I observe who keeps this fraud on its TV set- and there are a lot of them, right here in my town.
46
posted on
04/15/2003 1:45:44 AM PDT
by
backhoe
(The Dungeon doors ARE swinging open- what will the Left now say?)
To: backhoe
Tell them to turn the channel or turn it off.
To: backhoe; PhilDragoo
48
posted on
04/15/2003 5:00:27 AM PDT
by
Mia T
(SCUM (Stop Clintons' Undermining Machinations))
To: Mia T
49
posted on
04/15/2003 10:22:01 AM PDT
by
backhoe
(CNN = Collaborator's News Network)
To: All
50
posted on
04/15/2003 12:26:40 PM PDT
by
backhoe
(Just an old keyboard cowboy, ridin' the trackball into the sunset...)
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