MSM, Including CNN’s Cooper, Join ‘Featured Attendees’ at Clinton Summit

CNN’s Anderson Cooper interviewed a "squinting" Bill Clinton for a segment on Wednesday’s "Anderson Cooper 360" (a 2-minute clip was featured on Wednesday’s "The Situation Room"), and if there was speculation on why Cooper, instead of someone "higher up the food chain" like Wolf Blitzer, interviewed Clinton on the occasion of the "Clinton Global Initiative" annual meeting, it could be because Cooper is one of the "featured attendees" at this meeting. Cooper moderated a "working session" panel discussion on Wednesday on "The Most Effective Strategies for the Most Vulnerable Children."

Cooper joins other members of the mainstream media who are "featured attendees" at this year’s "Clinton Global Initiative" annual meeting, including Daljit Dhaliwal of PBS; Nicholas Kristof and George Suroweicki of the New York Times; Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek, and former (current?) Clinton lackey George Stephanopoulos of ABC News. Major media executives attending the meeting include Judy McGrath, Chairman and CEO of MTV Networks; Rupert Murdoch; and Ted Turner.

In past years, other members of mainstream media have been participants in the "Clinton Global Initiative" annual meeting. In 2006, CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Tom Brokaw, Katie Couric, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, CNN's Sanjay Gupta, former PBS anchor Charlayne Hunter-Gault, NPR "All Things Considered" anchor Michele Norris, Diane Sawyer, CNN anchor Zain Verjee, and Judy Woodruff were "featured attendees," along with some of those named above.

Besides the panel discussion Cooper moderated, among the other topics being discussed at the "Clinton Global Initiative" annual meeting include "Stabilizing the Climate: Pathways to Success;" "Promoting Growth and Fairness;" and the peculiarly-named "Addressing Under and Over Nutrition."