Does anybody remember the days when CNN used to actually be an accurate news org?

[AlCzervik]

remember when it first started and it covered news and did a good job? I do, it's sad that it has gone away.

[burythehatchet]

1. I disliked Bernard Shaw but back in the day of Ted it was my source

[Cha]

2. No, cause I didn't watch

it then..sorry I missed it. I don't watch now anymore, either.

[NNadir]

3. Vaguely. It was sometime in the 20th century, right?

Ted Turner owned it at the time, if I recall correctly.

[AlCzervik]

10. yup, somewhere around 1980, i think they started losing it during the first gulf war, they loved

conflict and showing the bombing on the little screens they have in fighter jets.

[MADem]

4. When Ted had it. He may have been in need of medication, but he was saner than the bums running the

place now.

He wouldn't have countenanced interns who were actually military intel personnel in his newsroom. At all.

[aquart]

5. Then Ted took the money and ran.

[DS1]

6. Yeah, that ended after the first Gulf War invasion

and of course, mostly so after Turner sold it

[undeterred]

Long ago and far away.

[MisterHowdy]

7. They lost me with the color-coded terror warnings.

After 9/11, watching CNN was like a page out of a Orwell novel.

[tom_paine]

8. Sure, when Old America used to actually be a Free Country

Those were some good ol' days (sigh).

[Swamp Rat]

15. sigh

:-(

[tom_paine]

23. I liked your picture with the African-American lady

The look on her face is priceless (it would be the look on mine and yours, no doubt).

[eleny]

9. I'll never forget Bernie Shaw's reportng from Tiananmen Square

[AlCzervik]

12. and watching the first space shuttle disaster.

[NanceGreggs]

11. Sadly, I do remember ...

We were a survey household for a three-month period back in those days. Even WE didn't realize how much we watched CNN, until we had to start writing it down. We were tuned in to CNN for probably 50% of our viewing hours.

[AlCzervik]

14. yup me too, i used to watch it all the time, between the first gulf war and oj

i lost respect for it.

[Mist]

13. CNN International is still decent--I've seen it in England. More like CNN back when. nt

[libodem]

16. Yes

Before Glenn Beck. They have to be nutz to try and pass him off as mainstream.

[Spazito]

17. I remember and it quite sad, not to mention infuriating, to see

what it has become under the ownership of AOL/Time/Warner. It used to be the go-to station for news coverage all over the world. Now it is the faux fox station and to be avoided just like fox.

[Nite Owl]

18. I do

I remember too that they used to fact check political ads and actually had some decent discussions about the issues being voted on in Congress. They even showed things like hearings. I'm sure it was never perfect but it certainly was a whole lot better.

[EFerrari]

19. Yes! And it was so cool to be able to watch the news any time

you wanted to. I was doing shift work for a while and I used to love CNN. :(

[abq e streeter]

20. former cnn newswriter

Talked with a guy at a H.S. reunion 4 years ago, who confirmed he had supervisors making sure of the correct ( in CNN's corporate eyes) political slant in all the newswriting at CNN when he was there

[Cleita]

21. That's when Ted Turner was in charge. He actually has said in

interviews that he regrets selling out. He said he thought at the time that TimeAOL was reputable and would continue running the news channel according to the reputation he had built for it as a trustworthy television new outlet. He admits he was wrong.

[Zomby Woof]

22. It was right-wing in the 80's

I remember how they whored for Reagan's SDI (Star Wars) program. This was in the mid-80's.

They were pro-Bush Sr. BEFORE the Gulf War. Remember Bernard Shaw's Kitty Dukakis rape question during the debates?

Remove the gauzy haze of nostalgia, and you will see that CNN was ALWAYS right-wing - not blatantly like Fox, but nevertheless, an arm of the military-industrial propaganda machine.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

24. I Thought I Did, But There Was No DU Then. Since I Know So Much Now, I Started To Question If It

ever had been, or if I was just naive to the reality.

It's good to know that my recollection of it having once been good was possibly not flawed and of ignorance.