Liberal CNN's New Ad Spotlights Rivals' Slant, Claims Lack of 'Favorites'
CNN, a network known for its regular liberal bias, touted its supposed objectivity versus its competitors in a new ad which premiered on Tuesday evening. The ad graphically associated Fox News with the Republican elephant and MSNBC with the Democratic donkey, and claimed, "If you want to keep them all honest, without playing favorites, the choice is clear: CNN, the worldwide leader in news."
Yahoo! News's Michael Calderone, in his Wednesday article on the new ad, quoted from CNN political director Sam Feist, who claimed that their ad "simply states the obvious: We're the one cable news channel that doesn't advocate for one political party or the other." Calderone continued that "CNN's nonpartisan anchors have struggled against their more opinionated counterparts. Campbell Brown acknowledged her 8 p.m. show's low ratings against Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann in her May announcement that she was leaving the network."
[Video of the ad below the jump]
This isn't the first time in 2010 that CNN has claimed that it's in the middle. Stuart Elliott of the New York Times reported on April 13 that the network was selling itself to advertisers as "the only credible, non partisan voice left" in the cable news business. Elliott quoted then-president Jonathan Klein boasting that CNN's "mission, our mandate [is] to deliver the best journalism in the world'....'No bias, no agenda.' That philosophy 'puts us in a category of one,' he [Klein] added, as CNN’s competitors 'have abandoned the field' of objective reporting."
CNN's actual record, however, tells a different tale. The network heavily promoted the agenda of left-wing homosexual activists over the past 10 months, with its publicity for GLAAD's "Spirit Day" on October 22, their pro-homosexual parenting documentary "Gary and Tony Have a Baby," and their series of pro-homosexual agenda segments during the month of June, along with leaning towards those who opposed California Proposition 8 after the voter-approved amendment was struck down in federal court.
More prominently, recently fired CNN anchor Rick Sanchez himself went after Fox News for being "way, way, way, to the right" and MSNBC for being "left," and extended his infamous "I play it down the middle" label to his entire network during an August 18, 2010 segment. However, Sanchez had a well-documented record of targeting conservative talk radio and Fox News, along with bashing conservatives during his time on CNN.
As for Calderone's example of CNN's supposed "nonpartisan anchors," Campbell Brown, the former personality claimed that "we are seeing a rise in right wing extremism recently" during an April 19, 2010 segment. When the network held its pitch to advertisers earlier that month, the New York Times's Elliott noted that "a panel took up a large part of the presentation...moderated by Anderson Cooper and also included CNN faces like Wolf Blitzer [and] Candy Crowley." But each of those three personalities have had instances of liberal media bias, with Cooper's own pushing of the homosexual activist's agenda, Blitzer's use of a left-wing talking point on the health care debate during a September 22, 2009 segment, and Crowley's labeling Tea Party activists "tea bag partiers"on the November 2, 2009 edition of The Situation Room.
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Comments
Really CNN?
Submitted by bkeyser on Wed, 11/10/2010 - 9:27pm.
It's fair to say that FoxNews has more Conservative or right-leaning hosts, and probably anchors (though if Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier are Conservative or right-leaning they don't show it on the air; Shep Smith, however...) and MSNBC has more Liberal or left-leaning hosts and anchors (though JoeScar is at best, only one foot over the fence).
There are obvious examples of CNN's liberal hosts: Fareed Zakaria, Ali Velshi, Jeffrey Toobin, Campbell Brown, Don Lemon, among others. Wolf and AC are often labeled as moderate (though I'd challenge that assertion). Can someone point to a Conservative or right-leaning host at CNN?
I was looking at their website and under their list of Anchors/Reporters in the CNN drop-down, there are 3 Democratic Strategists (Paul Begala, Donna Brazile, James Carville) and 2 Republican Strategists (Bill Bennett -who's page is "not found", and Mary Matalin) indicated. They also have Roland Martin, Larry King, Sanjay Gupta, Howard Kurtz, and Elliot Spitzer. I guess Kathleen Parker is the only one being paid to be right-leaning, and we all know she's playing a role.
So I've listed 13 Liberals, 2 Conservatives, and one who plays a Conservative on TV. Not advocating?
You forogt
Submitted by Blonde on Thu, 11/11/2010 - 10:46am.
...which one stayed at Holiday Inn Express last night.
Nice take down, BK.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
CNN doesn't play partisan
Submitted by Chris Norman on Wed, 11/10/2010 - 9:51pm.
CNN doesn't play partisan politics. No, they just happen to push the liberal agenda which can mostly be found in the....
CNN's Glass House
Submitted by Superman on Wed, 11/10/2010 - 10:03pm.
CNN may not be as biased as Fox News or MSNBC, but they are still biased. CNN doesn't have any conservative hosts. When CNN has a panel discussion, it's usually all liberals except for maybe one token conservative. CNN is always running specials with a liberal agenda such as "Black in America". And CNN attacks Republicans more than Democrats.
CNN certainly isn't unbiased.
Submitted by pbthinker on Wed, 11/10/2010 - 11:17pm.
Occasionally, I'll watch CNN shows, Sunday I like Reliable Sources and Candy Crowley at noon. I can't watch them and say CNN doesn't show some bias, although Crowley has been nailing Democrats the past few weeks. The point is I watch and she'll ask a question, I hear the answer and I've got 2 or 3 follow-ups in my head and she just moves on, letting them off the hook. Then you watch them grill the Republican and you think, "Where was the grilling of the Democrat?"
Anderson Cooper is another one trying to convince you he's fair. I watched him show 2 interviews one night, one with Christine O'Donnell and another with Coons. You could see a completely different tone moving from one interview to the other, including the snark from Gary Tuchmann, who was covering the campaign. All the while Cooper is telling everyone how they don't have an agenda.
It's obvious they believe they don't but they're not really doing any serious critique of their work.
Not that you should need reminding
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Thu, 11/11/2010 - 12:38am.
Anderson is the boy that came up with The Tea Bagger moniker. He giggles as he uses the term. This is not an objective interviewer.
There is a techincal term for this behavior...
Submitted by pvoce on Wed, 11/10/2010 - 11:26pm.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank You Veterans, both past and present!
CNN International
Submitted by Okieflyover on Thu, 11/11/2010 - 2:32am.
I was in Europe a few years ago when Israel was fighting with the Palestinians over the Israeli soldier's that got kidnapped. It was a several day "war". CNN international shamelessly was on the side of the Palestinians and very much against Israel. It was disgusting.
They actually had reporters imbedded in with the Palestinian soldiers and were lambasting Israel for attacking "civilian" areas when it was obvious and well documented that the Palestinians were shooting their rockets from civilian areas and then the "soldiers" were dressing in regular clothes to slip back into the public.
After that, I will never again think that anything from CNN is unbiased.
CNN fell by the wayside
Submitted by Richard B. on Thu, 11/11/2010 - 2:50am.
CNN fell by the wayside many years ago. Don't own a TV and if I did I would not watch CNN. Tough enought to watch the various video clips.
CNN lost their right to comment
Submitted by HockeyKid on Thu, 11/11/2010 - 7:32am.
on objectivity when they sold out to Saddam in the '90s. Let's not forget that they were the network who agreed to conform to Saddam's message in exchange for being allowed to report from Baghdad.
Wolf Blitzer = Baghdad Bob
CNN. The worldwide leader in news whoring.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Thanks for bringing that up,
Submitted by motherbelt on Thu, 11/11/2010 - 8:39am.
Thanks for bringing that up, HockeyKid...I had forgotten about that.
But, of course, you know, they would spin that as being neutral; they did what they had to do to keep getting the story. Of course, if you "get" the story, but don't "report" it, that kind of makes it pointless.
CNN actually believing
Submitted by Barack_must_go..... on Thu, 11/11/2010 - 8:26am.
CNN actually believing running ads stating " We Are Not Biased ", but the other guys are just proves how desperate & out of favor they've become lately.
" FOX NEWS " has got it right by stating " We Report You Decide " period.
The American people will figure out for ourselves in which direction a particular station leans, or in some cases falls over when it comes to ideology.
No matter how much they advertise to the contrary, the proof is in the reporting.....or lack of.
Barack_Must_Go.....
That just proves that CNN is
Submitted by motherbelt on Thu, 11/11/2010 - 8:42am.
That just proves that CNN is cognizant of the fact that what people want is unbiased news. ( to fix a problem you first have to acknowledge that you have one...)
But as Abraham Lincoln said, "Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it one."
CNN needs to hire a mathematician
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Thu, 11/11/2010 - 10:00am.
FOX has just about buried CNN and for some reason they can't seem to interpret the numbers. They are loaded with biased libs that rant about the right and spit poison. But they're the network to watch?
Now that's delusion!
They count on the stupidity
Submitted by DWoSD on Thu, 11/11/2010 - 12:29pm.
They count on the stupidity of the masses. These elitist really believe the are leading a pack of sheep.
CNN - Chavez News Network
Submitted by gruyere cheese on Thu, 11/11/2010 - 1:09pm.
Yes, this is what they think of CNN in Latin America.
During their reporting of the so called military coup in Honduras in June of 2009, when Zelaya (Hugo Chavez Apprentice) was ousted by Congress because he was trying to change the constitution to become president for life.
The CNN reporter would exagerate the number of Zelaya supporters protesting in the capital; they also claimed that the military was responsible for shooting at innocent bystanders-- not true. But they were reporting what the Obama administration wanted them to tell their audience, since they sided with Zelaya who was demanding to be reinstated.
The sitting president "Micheletti" made numerous requests to speak with CNN and other US cable channels to set the record straight, but they did not give him the time of the day. Only, Greta from Fox News met with him and aired the interview in the US.
CNN objective and unbiased? I think NOT...
I saw this yesterday and made
Submitted by Beukeboom on Fri, 11/12/2010 - 8:56am.
I saw this yesterday and made mention of it on the recent Kat-Spit Newsbusters article before I saw this. If any private company made an ad similar to CNN's promo they'd be taken to the woodshed legally for deceptive advertising.