Last edited Fri Jun 29, 2012, 03:55 AM - Edit history (2)

Jon Stewart really eviscerated them : http://www.democraticunderground.com/101737589

I thought it was second rate. I canceled after the one-month trial period ended.

I don't think American CNN International is the same thing. Of course, I never had to pay "extra" for it--it came with the satellite package.

I was totally unimpressed with it. Maybe it has improved since then (that was in 1998), but back then, it had the same few stories every hour with lots of commercials for hotels and airlines that I would never use, the announcers always seemed to get the intonation wrong, and their ridiculous version of Point/Counterpoint had two guys, one representing the "right" (that is, far right), and the other representing the "left" (that is, just to the left of the far right).

Sufficiently in depth, decent pace, good reporters, articulate people on the desks. They also had really great theme music a while back, but they changed it to something less compelling some time ago, doggone it (my parrot still whistles it occasionally).

Well said.

Also, I will never forgive CNN "Headline news" for featuring Glenn Beck 2 hours of prime-time Mon-Fri. F*****g Glenn Beck!! Unforgiveable. And they continued to suck after giving him to FOX.

I am actually liking Al-Jazeera US better than CNN at the moment in regards to their coverage.
They go after EVERYBODY.

major cable outfits here because the sucky tabloid MSM news outlets in the US would be shown up by Al-Jazeera and couldn't handle the competition for "real" reporting.

fuck the news

Their on air personalities were really left hung out to dry yesterday. It was beyond embarrassing for them.

I would have loved to see the look on my J-class professor who always said "get it right or don't get it". Sounds like Chicken Noodle Nuze was cock sure that AHCA would be repealed and when the court went into session they couldn't wait to get that narrative rolling ahead of Faux and hate radio. Dreams of glory would follow as all other news and talk operations would cite CNN and sing its praises on how it was first and foremost. What a joke.

The network bought into "conventional wisdom" and got burned...

I remember how so many people I worked with referred to it that way. I think you called it, too. They were already predisposed toward a ruling that must surely HAVE to go against President Obama and make his future look bleak. HAH! They had a pre-existing condition about their health care coverage (their "news" coverage, that is)! They did buy into the narrative of this damn message machine that's gone haywire, on steroids!

It does serve them right. Don't swallow the onslaught of strongly-slanted wrong-wing propaganda, CNN! Don't assume it's the truth just because you keep hearing about it all the time. We know you HAVE to keep an eye on outlets like Pox Noise because you have to watch everybody and every competitor if you expect to keep up. But you're letting that side of things get to you. The infection has spread, doctor. It's more like a cancer that's metastasized.

Besides, I think they're looking at the biggest plum, hungrily, because they "ain't got no." The biggest plum in the ratings wars is Pox. So, I can see the lemming-brain assert dominance and prepare for an Obama-adverse outcome, and outdo Pox at its strength and grab away all their viewers. Yeah. Fat chance. That wouldn't work anyway! The branding is complete and utterly locked in: you want CONservative? You turn to Pox Noise. It's a no-brainer in more ways than one! You want liberal leaning? You go to MSNBC especially since so few of us are equipped to get Current. Those are the choices and they've been consistently and successfully branded for some time. That image, that perception, has been reinforced for a LONG time now. It's very well-established. People are always gonna go to Pox Noise for the CON view. They won't just magically migrate over to CNN all of a sudden. Brand loyalty has already been solidly established and locked in. At least you know what you're getting with Pox Noise, and they're reliable as hell on this single score.

CNN would be well-advised, I think, to try to shoot for straight objective stuff. Sideline anyone with an attitude or agenda. Bring the most neutral you've got up front and start grooming them to take over. Even maybe recruit some "old-timers," relatively-speaking.

I had a wingnut radio listener who I heard it from (along with Communist Broadcasting System for CBS)...and while it didn't apply then, it sure does now. This network long ago sold out its credibility and integrity by becoming a mouthpiece for "conventional wisdom" that was all but sure the AHCA would be repealed. They just couldn't resist...the siren call was overwhelming to ASSUME rather than report.

The more CNN's attempted to be Faux Lite the worse their ratings go...and deservedly so. It was a stupid move since faux "viewers" are a subset of their very own...very brand loyal and never trusted CNN. In return for their pandering for the ratings, they blew out the moderate and liberal viewers they had. Obviously, by the number of people here who saw this fiasco, they haven't chased away every viewer, but they're not that far away.

That network now needs both fresh talent...the usual "suspects" there are shop-worn and now a parody of real news people. John King has become a punching bag for the "librul media", Wolfie has the subtly of a small soap dish and the evening shows with Erin whatshername, Piers whatshisname and Anderson Cooper are television's equivelent of a sleeping pill. Best of luck to 'em but I expect them to try to laugh off or ignore what was one of the biggest news gaffes ever. Journalism schools will study this fiasco for decades to come...

Cheers...

Nepotism proabably the cause of the worst of the very well-paid. They don't give those jobs on merit. So many of them are related to wonks, like Greenspan's spouse, and the rest. Just bodies.

Throughout the 80s and 90s I watched CNN 24/7...Bernie Shaw was a particular favorite. They really did revolutionize how news was covered...then came Faux and news took a back seat to food fights and personalities. I bailed on them after the 2004 election...I got tired of them playing "conventional wisdom" which generally meant right wing talking points. It looks like others followed suit. They tried to be faux lite and its backfired.

I just read that Erin whatshername (never seen her) had the lowest ratings ever for a major cable channel in prime time. The network's attempt to play "middle of the road" means they've gotten run over and yesterday's mess up will long be remembered. Supposedly news organizations still value "credibility"...CNN blew theirs in a big way and this may be the wake up call in the executive suites at Time/Warner to make some serious and fundamental changes. Stay tuned...

Like being around the world all at once. It was truly 24/7 and it was always there to teach things about the world.

After 911 everything changed in media, from news to television programming. I'd even hung with CNN through the whole Lewinsky thing. They've been bad for a while. It is encouraging that some of the stations have booted the right wing hate machine in some locations.

I remember the start of CSPAN and it was very educational. Things have just gone off into the gutter, too much diversion.

Media consolidation during Bush was the death of it. We went to the FCC hearings to explain they were destroying the purpose of the press but we were drowned out by free market freaks who didn't care what they were pushing out. All for the money, the ones with the most money get to talk, the rest can shut up.

We haven't had any decent presidential debates on cable or network broadcast news for about a decade. So many voices shut out that need to be heard.

I also faulted CNN for not covering the anti-war actions I knew were going but they blacked out the coverage. We knew they were happening because people were loading them up to youtube, before livestream with OWS.

We'd check all the cable news and they would not cover thousands of people against the wars. It was as if we did not exist. That's how it's been for a long time.

The livestream is the closest thing to what CNN was when Turner owned it. Anyway I've got to turn in but we must correct the media because it is where the people can connect their concerns.

Most of the efforts Obama made have gotten few results. Since Bush the internet has been being scrubbed and now access being denied. A lot of people are connecting with twitter and facebook but I don't feel it's good for complex ideas. But when DU is busy and we're bringing it all here it's really great.

See you later...

I worked in it for more years than I care to admit and saw radio go from a respected local medium for news and information into a satellite relay service for corporates spreading venom to reach the few remaining listeners. Unfortunately it wasn't boooosh who was responsible for "consolidation" it began under his daddy and was really pushed by Bill Clinton with Telcom '96 that turned public airwaves into corporate plantations. I had a front row seat to the development of hate radio in the late 80s and was repulsed by it that I moved in a whole different direction in life and never looked back.

Reforming the media is a difficult and complicated beast as the industry has no scrupples...only are motivated by profit and ego. There's zero interest within the government, including Congress to do any serious media reform (such as a revisit of Telcom '96). The corporates largess is their undoing. I'm seeing it in radio where most large corporates have billions in debt and their properties continue to depreciate. Media is changing and they're clinging onto what they've got. Things aren't as bleak as you think.

We've seen a revolution in media with the internet and its too nebulous for the corporate to control. Look at their poor attempts to shut down software and music piracy. Innovators are several step ahead of the corporates and we are seeing many new outlets for news and information. In many cases we have become our own News Directors...determining the sources of information we want to read or see and having resources to dig further if one desires. Gone are the days of the networks dominating 30 minutes every night or even cable channels that were "first". Many of us now first go to our browsers to find out whats going on and turn on the teevee or radio for "color". They've devalued their own product so much that new forms are growing and outperforming them.

Have a good night/morning...and thanks for sharing your thoughts...

Cheers...

it'll be the people who complained about it.

It needs to be in the same craptacular trashcan as fox. Toss it.

when wolf blitzer is still on + should have been put down YEARS AGO!

suspect in his truthiness.

They need to kick him to the curb first.

"partisan slants": How dare CNN pretend there is an equality of the two "slants".

MSNBC's "slant" happens to be the truth in the Edward R. Murrow tradition; the only "slant" for which MSNBC can claim is its bold willingness to separate itself from a media that has tragically lost its purpose as the guardian of the public's well-being. MSNBC is the only American tv network that dares to tell the truth. Those truths must seem quite a slant to CNN, considering its out-dated, Dubya-era standards.

As we all know too well (& so do the British folks) about Murdoch's Fixed News, it's nothing more than a Republican, corporate tool in serving to instill & nurture as much division, fear, hatred & ignorance in this country as possible.

The kind of propaganda the baby boomers were taught about in school -- that misinformation was shamefully used to instill the same cluelessness into Russian citizenry by its own government. The nefariousness of such an immoral government was impressed upon me then & it's happening right now in our own country, except, it's a corporate-backed political party who dare to call themselves "conservatives". They're extremists & as nefarious as the Russians we learned about in grade school.

In the corporate media world, "all sides do it". Thus Chicken Noodle Nuze tried to paint themselves as non-partisan and "outside the beltway" from its hang out in Atlanta. It's been a ruse for years as they've cheapened their news with "celebrities" and cheap tactics. They replaced reporting and reporters with talking heads and spin. In the 80s the only political show they had was Crossfire that went 30 minutes...the rest of the time was news...big and small. Its what made CNN special and its been long lost.

MSNBC deserves kudos for their coverage today. They waited and got it right...and I'd love to see them use the CNN and Faux bloopers in promos. Personally, I'm grateful for the network as it offers the most progressive/liberal views that I ever expected to see on a major corporate network. And the network has grown and benefitted from it. I do watch Current and FSTV but they lack the quality and depth MSNBC has developed. They did good on this one.

I studied and had the good fortunate to meet Marshall McLuan...and the concept of the "big lie" and the medium being the message. I imagine his head would spin seeing how things have transpired over the past 20 years.

Cheers...

as not having a slant, even though it's mainly one side of the spectrum that has been responsible for America's setbacks.

The moderates and the somewhat-to-the-left have MSNBC to help us digest the news.
I long for the days when reporters gave us the news without their opinions.

I watch it most nights and am reasonably happy with it. Once in a while one of the news readers is annoying - there's this one guy from Singapore who smiles at the most inappropriate times - but in general it's a decent program. Much more international news than most US news shows.

'most trusted name in news' for a very long time."

Can't say it better than that.

They were first though. The corporate media was wrong. Current TV called it right.

I have no sympathy for CNN - they have tried to be Fox Lite while expecting people to keep watching.
Thankfully I was on Scotus Blog (thanks to DUers) and MSNBC.

They sure blew it.

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and that is all about Propoganda

They were just desperate to be first.

Yesterday, when my coworker told me that ACA was struck down (he read it on CNN.com), I stood up and said in a louder voice, "In one-fell-swoop, 8 million American's health care is obliterated! Time to impeach THIS Supreme Court!" I then marched out of my department, and downstairs to have a smoke. Pulled out my phone to read Twitter, which, of course had feeds that had the story RIGHT!

Sheepishly, yet joyfully, went back up to my office, telling my co-worker (and anyone else within earshot), "CNN got it wrong! ACA was UPHELD! Health care is a RIGHT, not a PRIVILEGE!" I then proceeded to get back to work. True story!!

I could totally see me doing the same exact thing. Words and all.

Fortunately, I was in my car and got the news from AM radio, so missed the whole debacle yesterday.

But, oh yeah, I can see that happening.

"It's a blow to the administration". "It's a blow to the Democrats". It's a blow. It's a blow. It's a blow. They just piled on for 5 minutes as a tag team between Blitzer, King, and then they even brought in Gupta to join the party. And although I had been watching CSPAN 3, my Mom told me last night that Candy Creepy Crawly was on somewhere in there (perhaps before the actual ruling), where she was particularly disgraceful.

THEY are the ones doing the BLOW JOB on the rethugs in the name of "news".

They jumped the shark a few years ago and now they just hit the pier. The whole line-up needs to be axed (maybe keep leave Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon & Roland).

who was in the majority should have been a clue.

Confirming what I've thought for some time now....

enough

They are Faux lite. Wednesday they had a reporter proudly proclaiming Obamacare to be a prerogative and then refusing to use any other term. Some coverage...

Perhaps if they did try to be unbiased they mitt gain some viewers back. Even though the righties would call unbiased "liberal'..

They been so busy dropping their shorts for the reich-wing, they don't have time for accuracy.