NEGATIVE 7,000,000

CNN loses over 7 MILLION unique visitors to CNN.COM. Who's to blame?

Saturday, March 20, 2010

March 20, 2010 Health Care Reform Protest Coverage by CNN ... Where is it?

Today at this time, March 20, 2010, thousands of protesters have rallied in front of the US Capitol Building in Washington D.C. to protest the Heath Care Reform bill.  But you won't hear it from CNN.  Rather, CNN has an entire article devoted to a rally that will happen the NEXT day (Immigration rally scheduled in D.C.)

Fox News has an article published on the health care reform protest.
Fox News also had an article published on the anti-war protest.
Covers both sides.

(Updates, most recent first)

*UPDATE 6: 5:36pm - CNN's Don Lemon challenges doctor who opposes current health care bill - speaks down to him, says that pro-health care bill reform representative (former doctor) knows more about health care law then he does.  Also offers to pat him on the back to calm him down. What a disgrace.
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*UPDATE 5: 5:30PM - No coverage of the protests.  However a group of dozen protesters outside a Pennsylvania Representatives members' office protesting FOR health care reform bill made live coverage. (CNN's Don Lemon)
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*UPDATE 4: 3:26pm - CNN's Fredricka Whitfield covers Anti-War protests in front of White House, but still no coverage of the tea party protest against the health care reform bill.
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*UPDATE 3: 2:16pm--two hours.  Still nothing on CNN's website.
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*UPDATE 2: 2:00pm--Not one mention on CNN channel during LIVE coverage.
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*UPDATE 1: 1:16pm - one hour.  Still nothing.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

CNN is Having a Coffee Party! CNN's Steinhauser helps them out.

Can you believe this?  It took CNN over a month just to provide adequate coverage to the increasing popular Tea Party back in 2009.  wants to remind you that the Coffee Party is having hundreds of local meet ups, so make sure you get out there! Mr. Steinhauser (pictured, right) sure gave them some good publicity. It's only been a few weeks since the coffee party existed and already it has received more positive coverage from CNN than the Tea Party since its inception.

Promotion much? Maybe, just maybe, Rick Sanchez will pounce on this coverage just like he did to Fox News.

The article opens with "Will the Coffee Party rise to the scale of the Tea Party movement?"  Well, judging by who is writing the story, where its coming from, and what the story is about, we won't even begin to argue what the answer to that question will be.

Here is how CNN's Paul Steinhauser approached the Tea Party convention in February of 2010: "Controversial Tea Party convention aims to boost the movement."  Will their be anything controversial about the Coffee Party?

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*UPDATE*  Not sure how this comment by "Karen" got through, CNN editors must have missed it: "Funny how CNN covers the first Coffee party and it took them over a year to do a story on the teaparties. I guess anything that they can do to divert attention away from the Teaparties is a story for them. You continue to disappoint."
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*UPDATE 2*  Aww, how sweet.  CNN is asking "Were you at a Coffee Party gathering? Share your images, story." Look here.  Weren't they bashing Fox News for this kind of thing a while ago?  Try to find an article where they ask the Tea Partiers to upload their images/videos to CNN.
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*UPDATE 3* Will CNN report this?  After all the attempts by CNN and its' "journalists" to discredit the Tea Party and associate it with "Astroturf," lets just see how CNN handles this.

CNN's Jessica Yellin attempts to discredit "Fake Tea Partier" allegation

Jon Scott Ashjian (TEA-NV) is running against Harry Reid (D-NV) for the Senate seat.  Many conservatives have alleged that Mr. Ashjan might not appear to be who he seems.  Well, that word has gotten out to CNN and how else could they spin it?  With a bit of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert rhetoric:
Some are accusing Jon Scott Ashjian, a new Tea Party candidate running for U.S. Senate, of being a fake. The allegation? He was put in the race by agents of Senate Majority leader Harry Reid to siphon votes from the GOP.
By "agents?" Could they make it sound more conspiratorial? An image posted along with the article is captioned  "Is it possible to be a fake Tea Partier?"  Judging my the next paragraph, it is pretty clear that what Ms. Yellin attepts to do here is paint the tea partiers and conservatives as conspiracy theorists.

So the conspiracy theories abound from Tea Party activists and worried Republicans: Ashjian's never attended Tea Party rallies; he hasn't coordinated with local organizers; the secretary of his Tea Party of Nevada, Barry Levinson, is a registered Democrat.
Add this to the hundreds of articles published by CNN to discredit and demanize Tea Party activists.  Someone keeping score yet?

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Despicable. CNN's Melanie Whitley Uses 5th Grader to Tout Health Care Reform

While the story is heartbreaking, the venue by CNN to push political agendas through and using children to do so is just simply despicable.

CNN's Ed Hornick Approaches Massa (D-NY) Controversy from the Left

And now, the latest attempt by the media to paint the GOP as obstructionists. One only needs to review a few tweets on Ed Hornick's Twitter page to see where his political affiliations are at, which is probably why he works where works. In the latest posting, Mr. Hornick titles his newest article "GOP trying to keep Massa investigation alive."


So is he saying that the investigation doesn't need to occur?  Or that perhaps implying that the GOP is wasting time by keeping the "investigation alive?"  Here are the two paragraphs in the entire article where the title is picked from:
Rothenberg said even if Democrats aren't implicated in any wrongdoing, the end goal for Republicans is to keep Democrats on the defensive as the midterm elections approach.

"For Republicans, any time they can talk about an incident or an individual that is embarrassing to Democrats, it keeps the Democrats on the defensive. In this particular case, Republicans can portray Massa as part of the larger problems," he said. "There is a political advantage in calling for an investigation. You put the onus on the Democrats.
But wait!  It's not over yet.  Ed Hornick, like Peter Hamby, wants to remind you of the Republican scandals in the past:
Republicans may also be pushing for a further investigation after one of their party's members faced a similar incident years ago. That incident is largely cited for the large number of GOP losses in the 2006 midterm elections. 
In 2006, Florida GOP Rep. Mark Foley was forced to resign after his sexually suggestive e-mails to male pages were exposed. 
We knew where this article was headed just by reading this title.  Typical of CNN: use Democrat scandals to remind readers that Republicans are also complicit, but during Republican scandals occur, let's keep the Democrat ones on a hush hush.

CNN's Jessica Ravitz gushes over the new liberal Coffee Party

Have you ever seen such positive coverage for the Tea Party from CNN?  Nope.  Not remotely close.  When you have anchors and "journalists" like Susan Roesgen and Rick Sanchez, one does not need to wonder where CNN's political prefrences lie. Especially when it comes to grassroots movements.


Answers what?

Titled "Meet the people who are percolating in the coffee Party,"  CNN-author Jessica Ravitz profiles five members of the new liberal Coffee Party, all with completely positive coverage.  All the coverage we've seen on CNN showcases the Tea Party as unpopular, angry, uncivilized, and as a lunatic fraction of the American public.  But the Coffee Party is a liberal group, much like what we see from CNN.  So with that comes positive coverage for it.
Meet these members of the Coffee Party Movement, an organically grown, freshly brewed push that's marking its official kickoff Saturday. Across the country, even around the globe, they and other Americans in at least several hundred communities are expected to gather in coffeehouses to raise their mugs of java to something new
They're professionals, musicians and housewives. They're frustrated liberal activists, disheartened conservatives and political newborns. They're young and old, rich and poor, black, white and all shades of other.
You know, you can say the same exact thing for Tea Party Activists. But what Jessica was attempting to imply here is that the fundamental difference between Tea and Coffee was that the Coffee Party contains both conservatives and liberals, and that the coffee party encompasses a diverse range of people ("young, old, rich, and poor, black, white...")  Surely there are no black people in the tea party.
This new group calls for civility, objects to obstructionism and demands that politicians be held accountable to the people who put them in office.
What's really striking (or there lack of) is the tone of the coverage between the two movements.  We never heard about how quick the Tea Party grew, what they really stand for, instead we just heard how they were angry citizens, lunatics, and about all those posters that were present at some for the Tea Parties (mostly by left infiltrators). 

It is almost surprising that CNN claims to be "in the middle" when discussing Fox News and MSNBC when this kind of "journalism" goes on.  When Conservatives claim "liberal media bias," this is the kind of thing they are talking about.  And Jessica Ravitz (pictured, right), you have just given Conservatives more validity to their argument.  Thank You.

CNN PT's Peter Hamby: Hey, Don't Fortget About those GOP scandals

Resident progressive of CNN's Political Ticker realizes it has been a bad month for Democrats.  Failing health care plan, Rep Massa (D-NY), Rep Rangel (D-NY), Gov Paterson (D-NY), falling poll numbers for Obama, and more!  This cannot be a good thing.  Leave it to Peter Hamby (writer, CNN Political Ticker), to remind us all that there were Republican scandals back in the day too.

On top of that, Mr. Hamby approves comments that overwhelming support his article.  Just take a look at some of these comments:
  • The economy was terrible under Bush. Stop drinking the repub kool aid and actually learn something for once.
  • Since the day Obama took office the republicans have been playing dirty, posting underhanded ads and embellishing incidents trying to make Democrats look bad.
  • The list of corrupt Repubs is nearly endless
  • Sen John Ensign (R) is the gift horse that keeps on giving. As long as he's a senator he'll be the Republican's Massa.
  • Kinda of funny that the republicants whining about this add had their own papers leaked last week portraying the President, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid in a very nast way. Shut up.
  • That is the ONE thing Republicans excel at. I will stack our guys against theirs and its a blowout. The Republicans win that contest hands down. Corruption, it's the one thing they CAN,T say No to.
And let's not forget the opinion peice that CNN released which has been showcased throughout the website screaming: "Hey, Just forget about Massa and move on."  The article is written by Johnathan Mann and is titled "Let's move on from Massa controversy."

Hmm, we wonder if CNN published any articles that demanded to forget about Sanford?  Nope. With press like this, the DNC has no need for a press office of its own.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

NY Gov David Paterson is a Democrat!

CNN likes to make sure that politicians are identified with their party. For example, that identification would be like the Texas Republican, or the Idaho Republican, or the Kentucky Republican.  But don't you dare label some embattled senator, representative, or governor a Democrat!  You won't find Governor Paterson's (D-NY) affiliation in most of the articles published on the CNN Political Ticker.  Take a look at some of the recent headlines and read the articles:
Paterson's vow: No plan to resign  Posted: March 5th, 2010 03:45 PM ET
Black leaders voice support for embattled N.Y. governor  Posted: March 5th, 2010 11:00 AM ET
Top Paterson aide quits  Posted: March 4th, 2010 06:36 PM ET
Paterson facing ethics violation  Posted: March 3rd, 2010 01:36 PM ET
Poll: Should Paterson resign?  Posted: March 3rd, 2010 10:14 AM ET
Paterson won't run for a full term  Posted: February 26th, 2010 11:47 AM ET
NYC tabs urge Gov. Paterson to resign  Posted: February 26th, 2010 10:06 AM ET
But we did find one post that correctly identified the embattles governor as a Democrat:  
Troubled New York Democratic Gov. David Paterson, who recently abandoned his quest for a full term, said Monday he will not resign his office. He also asserted that he retains enough authority to effectively govern one of the country's largest states for his remaining 10 months in power. (Embattled New York governor says he won't resign.  Posted: March 1st, 2010 11:44 AM ET)
Now let's take a look at how some Republicans that get identified:
The Utah Republican has long been an opponent to Democratic health care proposals. In December, Hatch called Senate health care legislation “one lousy bill” that “could wreck our country.” (Hatch: Dems will live with reconciliation vote for ‘the rest of their lives’)
“I think what they're doing wrong is because of arrogance,” former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. (Pelosi, Reid acting out of arrogance, DeLay says)
Crist, the popular GOP governor who is mounting a bid for Senate and has won the endorsement of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, finds himself locked in a tight race with Rubio, the former Florida House Speaker. (Crist says Rubio campaign a 'fraud')
Need we say more? 

CNN Political Ticker Extremism: Jim Bunning vs. Charlie Rangel


Here's a fine example of the kind of BIAS that goes on at the CNN Political Ticker. The Jim Bunning (R-KY) and Charlie Rangel (D-NY) story broke out at about the same time. We counted a total of 15 articles basically slamming Bunning for his decision on not to support funding for certain government projects until proper sources of funding were found within the government.



Hey, let's find that $10 billion before we spend $10 billion. But that isn't what you'll get from the postings over the the CNN Political Ticker. Nope. Or how the law that Bunning was following (pay as you go) was actually a law established by Democrats. Nope, won't read that either. Here are the articles by CNN between February 24 and March 3, 2010 about Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY):
Senator blocks transfit funding
March 1st, 2010 08:30 PM ET
Obama to take on Bunning
March 2nd, 2010 12:00 PM ET
Bunning still not answering questions
March 2nd, 2010 02:01 PM ET
Bunning's abrasive behavior spans careers
March 2nd, 2010 05:32 PM ET

Now, lets take a look at Charles Rangel (D-NY). What did he do? Well he was only involved in some ethics investigations and tax evasion. You know, all that small stuff. Oh yea, he violated House gift rules by accepting corporate funding for trips to the Caribbean. Oh, and also faced ongoing ethics probes on issues ranging from misuse of rent-controlled apartments in New York and failure to disclose income from a villa in the Dominican Republic to reports that he exchanged official favors – a tax loophole for oil driller Nabors Industries Ltd. – in exchange for a $1 million gift to the Charles Rangel Center at City College of New York [Source]. Nothing for us average citizens to worry about for a powerful chairman of the Ways and Means committee in the House who pay his salary. So let's see how important this was to CNN's Political Ticker between February 26 to March 3, about the same time frame as the Bunning "controversy" :

Rep. Charles Rangel to be admonished Friday
Posted: February 26th, 2010 08:10 AM ET
Pelosi supports Rangel over ethics charges
Posted: February 26th, 2010 03:10 PM ET
Pelosi accepts Rangel's leave of absence
Posted: March 3rd, 2010 10:26 AM ET
Did you see that? That was 5 whole articles! 5 whole articles about ethics violations and tax evasion! What's worse, a Senator trying to find funding before he goes on board with a bill (what Jim Bunning was trying to do), or breaking ethical rules and evading taxes?

You know what...we'll let you make the call on that one.

Welcome to the CNN Political Ticker Bias Report Blog

We've had ENOUGH!

It is time to take a swing at that Democrat-party run, anti-GOP blog filled with liberal and progressive authors. That blog is the CNN Political Ticker. Many of you are already familiar with the CNN Political Ticker. It features several authors who, throughout the day, document what happens in the world of politics. The CNN Political Ticker claims:

The latest political news from CNN's Best Political Team, with campaign coverage, 24-7.

But we have noticed in the past few months just how biased this part of CNN has become. It has become filled with reporters who gather their data through left-wing sources such as The Huffington Post, Think Progress, Southern Poverty Law Center, Media Matters, and others. News that is not really news, becomes news on the CNN Political Ticker because that is what the left wing blogs happen to be talking about that day.

Obama has gotten very positive coverage on the CNN Political Ticker, where as Sarah Palin...well, just go ahead and review the CNN Political Ticker. Need some fact checking done? They will go ahead and cherry pick statements from Republicans and make sure they are corrected on their blog. How about Democrats, and the fact checking there? Occasionally, you will get one or two, but the majority of the time, most of the fact checking comes from the left against the right.

The authors of CNN's Political Ticker Blog have no biography sections so it may be difficult at first to find out their political stances. However, when one simply reads a positing, it is clealy obvious where they lie in the political spectrum. Here's a list we've compiled of authors who contribute to the CNN Political Ticker:
Ed Hornick
Paul Steinhauser
Peter Hamby
Alexander Mooney
Xuan Thai
Pamela Sellers
Diana Holden
Mark Preston
Martina Stewart
Emily Sherman
It may be permissible to label these individuals as journalistic terrorists. But we won't, at least not yet. Instead, we will document their "news" and point out the subtle little biases we noticed. And you can make the call.

For example: Take a look at CNN Political Ticker's resident progressive/liberal author, Ed Hornick. A quick glance at his Twitter page might make it seem that he might be reporting for Keith Olbermann's failed cable show on MSNBC. The twitter page links to many stories Mr. Hornick writes for the CNN Political Ticker.

So you may be wondering...why? Why this particular blog on the internet and not the thousands of others that are out there? Well, recent traffic statistics show that out of the three major cable news networks, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, the website of CNN receives the most hits even though its television programming is almost dead last in all the rankings. This isn't that much surprising since many people are getting their news throughout the day on the internet. But what kind of news are they really getting? It's time to take a stand, and point it out. The CNN Political Ticker is BIASED.