Alina Cho

CNN Correspondent Links Rising Food Costs to Ethanol

By Paul Detrick | April 4, 2008 - 15:03 ET

You're going to need a few extra bucks to pay for those corn flakes every morning.

CNN's senior business correspondent Ali Velshi let viewers in on an underreported fact about rising commodities prices: the government mandate for ethanol production is making corn and other agricultural products more expensive-making inflation a top priority for Americans.

"Several years ago, we made some decisions about how corn is going to be used to make ethanol, which is added to our gasoline," said Velshi on "American Morning" April 4. "A number of people think that that was meant to reduce our dependency on crude oil. What is does is it takes what is fundamentally a food source and makes it into a gasoline source. That's caused corn to go up."

CNN Chief Klein Lauds Net’s ‘Commitment’ to ‘Unbiased’ Coverage

By Matthew Balan | February 25, 2008 - 18:50 ET

NewsBusters.org - Media Research CenterCNN’s Jon Klein, in an internal memo obtained by the TVNewser blog, bragged about the strong ratings the network won during its recent debates and primary coverage, and spun the reason for this success. "CNN is proving that with innovation, execution, and passion, the sky's the limit. Our deep-seated commitment to independent coverage that is unbiasedwithout an agenda — is more powerful and popular than the partisan rants that permeate the airwaves." Klein might have had Keith Olbermann in mind when he referred to "partisan rants," but one would only need to look at the past three months to disprove such an outrageous claim by Klein.

The first and most egregious example of CNN’s bias occurred at their joint debate with YouTube at the end of November 2007. Retired general Keith Kerr, a member of the "LGBT Americans For Hillary Steering Committee" and an open homosexual himself, not only asked about homosexuals serving openly in the military played at the debate via his Internet video, but was also present at the debate to follow-up with the Republican candidates personally. For a week, CNN and its operatives denied that they knew Kerr’s affiliation with the Clinton campaign, and even some in the mainstream media, such as Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times, slammed CNN for "this most recent debacle masquerading as a presidential debate."

CNN Gives Unemployed Woman 'a Pass' for Buying a Flat-Screen Television

By Jeff Poor | January 30, 2008 - 17:43 ET

It’s apparently okay to buy unnecessary and expensive electronics at a discount – even if you’ve lost your job and money is “tight.”

After all, the Super Bowl is Sunday.

CNN’s January 30 “American Morning” mentioned retailers were cutting prices to get customers to purchase more, but no one during the broadcast had a problem with one unemployed woman buying one of those fancy televisions.

“Veronica McNeil has two kids,” said "American Morning" anchor Alina Cho. “She recently lost her job. Her husband’s an ironworker and the family is feeling the pinch.”

CNN Plays Up Michelle Obama, Omits Her Past Words About America

By Matthew Balan | January 11, 2008 - 17:32 ET

NewsBusters.org - Media Research CenterCNN’s Alina Cho, in a report which ran twice on Friday’s "American Morning," described Michelle Obama in nothing but glowing terms. When she introduced the report during the 6 am Eastern hour, Cho described the wife of Barack Obama as a "fascinating woman," and went on to call her "funny, fiery, and blunt ."

During the report, Cho used sound bites from Valerie Jarrett, a friend of the Obama family, and CNN contributor Roland Martin to reinforce the overwhelmingly positive profile of Mrs. Obama and her role in drawing black women to vote for her husband. Martin put it this way: "She's going to tell them [black women] point blank -- look, I'm you. My daughters are you. And so, my husband is going to be thinking about you every single day because he's looking at you every single day."

CNN: Fear of Flying Not Well Grounded

By Paul Detrick | November 6, 2007 - 18:51 ET

Huh, turns out all that effort the media put into bashing the airlines was [insert pun about airlines here]. Turns out they're doing pretty good. Oops.

"Airlines might not be doing as badly as it feels they're doing," said CNN's "American Morning" anchor Kiran Chetry after introducing a report November 6 on improved flight delays.

Remember Chetry reports from the New York bureau of CNN, that's important.

The CNN report revealed that the nation's 31 largest airports are actually down 8 percent over last year...except for one gridlocked city.

"Steer clear of New York where flight delays are up 23 percent," reporter Alina Cho said. "Even Chicago's O'Hare and Atlanta's Hartsfield airports, two of the world's busiest, posted improvements."