My letter to CNN - i.e. Beck, Bennet & co...

[Mr_Spock]

MoveOn sent an email out asking folks to let CNN know what we think about their copying Fox tactics. So I wrote this email to 'em:

"I'll not be watching CNN any more. How pathetic - hiring RW hacks to try to compete with the RW Faux "News" station. You're going to destroy your reputation as a news company since Faux is considered a joke by anyone who's got a brain & cares about unbiased journalism. This is pathetic beyond belief. Hiring bigots like Bennet & Beck - OMFG!! The civil war will be partially your fault - you are now part of the rebel TV that is stirring the pot of hate in this country. Shame. Shame. Shame. I can't think of a more simpleton thing to have done than that which you have just done. Good riddance!"

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Well done, Spock

[Mr_Spock]

2. What a sad week for journalism

This is disgusting :(

[Canuckistanian]

6. Journalism is doing fine - there's one less participant, that's all

Ted Turner's dream is now dead.

[Mr_Spock]

16. You can say that again

Cable news is now all officially garbage "glam" TV.

[bigwillq]

3. Good job!

:hi: :toast:

[Canuckistanian]

4. Good job.

You didn't pull any punches, did you?

I agree with another poster from yesterday - CNN has officially jumped the shark.

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. Good for you! I remember CNN when Ted Turner

owned it. What a difference. What a loss. It's a HUGE loss for this country. I use to always have my TV tuned to CNN to get the news, all day, every day. I don't ever watch it now unless they make a mistake and have a Liberal on.:(

[Auntie Bush]

7. Bravo...well said! We have to stop calling them the MSM because

they aren't mainstream. They are ALL right wing! The big bosses are worried that the Rethugs might lose power and have ordered all media to get out there and be patriotic and defend this president. So we should go back to referring to them as the Corporate media. CM is what we have.

[Chevy]

13. Corporate media

and Enron Journalism are must used terms from now on.

[Ilsa]

8. I just emailed them and said they've lost me for good now.

I can't bear to watch those three.

[tlsmith1963]

9. I Sent Them One, Too

I used to watch CNN all the time, so its' decline has been very sad to me. I want the old CNN back! I told them that if they want to be like Fox News so much, they won't have me as a viewer anymore.

Tammy

[Liberal_and_proud]

10. But will it work??

I guess when I see comments about letters or emails to groups like this I can't help but think they could not give a flying crap about the viewer. What we need to do is mount this type of effort at the advertisers. They are the ones that tremble when a group organizes. Look at what the fundies do with this type of momentum.

Hit CNN in the wallet and they will listen.

[Eric J in MN]

11. Here is a link for emailing CNN Headline News

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form1.html?33

Suggest some liberals they should hire for balance (Randi Rhodes, Sam Seder, etc.)

[DemonFighterLives]

20. Thanks for the link Eric

My message:

As an avid CNN viewer, I would like to comment on your latest appointment. Glenn Beck is not good for CNN or America. His type of hate speech is not welcome and may throw my CNN viewing into question.

If you are going to follow the right wing lemmings off the cliff, count me out. I don't even want a far lefty for balance, just hope that you will see the light and get rid of Beck before you destroy all of CNN.

DemonFighter
:dem:

[Eric J in MN]

26. Personally, it would bother me less if the hiring of Glenn Beck

and JC Watts had been accompanied by hiring two liberals I like. It wasn't accompanied by hiring any liberals.

[DemonFighterLives]

27. Balance would be fine

but if and when they hire someone for supposed balance, they are usually milquetoast like Colmes.
JC watts- :rofl:

[upi402]

12. Thanks! I think CNN has been righty for years

The media are traitors, plain and simple. People have been fooled by them into voting for criminality unseen in my lifetime. Fools. They will live in a country that has tanked.

[SoCalDem]

14. CNN does not care.

They are a corporate-news venue, and conservatives rule for now..and probably forever.

They are not dumb..they have to know that Air America is succeeding and that there IS a huge under-served market of liberals.

They have chosen sides..and they did not choose us..

I just wish that someone would tie JoeMentum and Donna Brazile to a chair somewhere and that the dems would decide as a bloc ..to just flat out BOYCOTT all of the "fake news shows"..

THAT in itself would be newsworthy and would get some mainstream coverage.. but sadly, most are in love with facetime on TV, even if it's just 10 minutes of having their faces mooshed into republican shit..:grr:

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

15. I am confused by the moves CNN is making.

Fox has got the biggest ratings because they consciously went for a consolidated market of the far Rightwing viewers whereas the other stations and specialty channels all split among themselves the remaining majority viewership. Let's say Fox had 30% of the market and everyone else has some segment of the remaining 70% and none of them reach the 30% viewership of Fox. So then they try to compete with and siphon off the Fox viewers while retaining their own viewers. Can't be done. It's like a small city that has 5 restaurants - 4 are middle of the road burger places and 1 is a sushi restaurant. The one sushi restaurant gets ALL the sushi eaters in the city. The other restaurants say, "hey, that sushi place is really busy - we need to serve that too." So then they all try to become sushi houses and the burger eaters now have no place to eat. The five restaurants are now splitting the 30% customer base and they all ultimately go out of business because the burger people have given up on all of them and now just stay home and grill their own burgers. This is how I view the current state of television news.

[Mr_Spock]

17. I was wondering about this too. CNN may dilute the waters

...and in a type of reverse psychology, might somehow end up making the market turn back toward the middle again. It's not mainstream thinking I am doing here, but I think you can get to where I'm at since you also see the illogical nature of their latest forray...

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

18. I drew some comfort from this post on another thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=184683&mesg_id=187412

I think Hamlette makes a great point. Also, I am noticing more and more that the television media seems to be so far behind the curve of the information on the blogs and some print journalism. If they are followers and not leaders on stories and they can't be bothered to be at least AS informed as I am, why would I bother watching them?

I spend maybe 90 minutes a day scooting around on the internet. I am relying on "latest breaking" and "Editorials and other articles" on DU as my best and first summary of what's going on. Then I read "greatest". If I have time, I will scan over "general" and "political". Then I'm off to RawStory, then Huffington, maybe MediaMatters or Crooks and Liars, then a quick looksee of the NYT and the Washington Post. One day of that gives me enough real information to scream at the talking heads for the rest of the week. Their lag time is incredible.

[Binka]

21. The Pendulum Is Swinging Left CNN Is At Least 18 Months Behind

Beck and Bennet will be gone by the summer. Make book on this. When the RW scandals see the light of truth these shrill incompetent shitdustbags will have lost their last vestige of credibility(as if they have a shred now). The management at CNN and I use that term loosely has its head up its collective ass. They are burning money and its pathetic. To lose market share to Murdoch? I would shoot myself. Fucking dummies.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. You're 100% Correct

This is a preposterously stupid move by CNN. And, it's the 2nd time. When Faux first made their big inroads, CNN shifted right. They're ratings didn't improve a whit! So, on the heels of that strategic "success" they're doing it again?

Duh!
The Professor

[DemonFighterLives]

19. Great letter

I agree with most of it, but was wondering if a threat to quit them is better than quitting them right off?
They have definitely chosen sides, this Beck is an Asshole- Kill Michael Moore and call Cindy Sheehan a scumbag. I think the scumbag is obvious and CNN has dropped to scum level.
Like many here, CNN used to be my main news station. I'm writing them as well.
:argh:

[Mr_Spock]

23. Glad you're writing them as well.

They really need to see that liberal people DO care what's out there.

I don't watch CNN any more except on occasion (I like when Bill Maher substituted for Larry King last week) - so threatening them is kinda mute. Every dumb ass thing they do makes me think all the more if I want to be exposed to the stupidity that cable news has become. KO may be the only show I watch on cable news from now on.

[npincus]

24. great job!

[BILL53]

25. The corporate media

The corporate media is trying to put it's spin on events and times are very serious but the same thing happened in the 60's and an alternative media arose and the truth came out and it forced the corporate media to tell the truth. It also forced corrupt democrats at that time to change or they were voted out.
We need to educate people and the Internet makes it a lot easier.
Times are scarier then people know and the corporate media does it's best to distract us. Look at the way they ignore the impeachment movement.

The real danger is the Supreme Court where Bush is putting on people who believe the president has a basic "inherent Power" over congress and the people. They are taking away democracy.
Bush claims to be above the law and war time powers with this so called "war on terror", which they themselves have told us will last 10 to 20 years and "may not end in our lifetime."
Serious stuff going on.