GoldbergBlog

CNN: The Most Amusing Name In News

Oh, CNN. The fact that you took the time to respond to Michael Moore’s open letter questioning your ethics and integrity deserves some commendation but your refutation is pretty damn funny. While I won’t go and play “Who’s the better researcher?” with you as you try to refute each of Moore’s refutations, I will comment on your introduction.

“It’s ironic that someone who has made a career out of holding powerful interests accountable is so sensitive to having his own work held up to the light by impartial journalists, as we did in our examination of ‘SiCKO,’ ” the spokesperson said.

Since when is Michael Moore a “powerful interest”? Granted, he’s powerful, but let’s not pretend for a second that Moore has anywhere near the influence as General Motors, weapon manufacturers, the U.S. government, or the American health care industry. Furthermore, Moore took the time to address you and your accusations whereas Moore’s subjects tend to dodge his camera. I will say again that I applaud CNN’s interaction with Moore.

“We appreciate Mr. Moore’s attention to the important subject of health care and have featured him on CNN four times to discuss his movie and our reporting on it. While Mr. Moore may want to continue the discussion in order to drive publicity to his movie, we have presented the facts and are comfortable letting the viewers judge for themselves.

Yes, damn Michael Moore for driving people to see his movie. I’m glad CNN would never engage in such base tactics in trying to drive up their ratings. I’m also tickled by your closing clause about presenting the facts and letting the viewers judge for themselves. It sounds so familiar…I could have sworn that I heard it elsewhere….*

CNN has always prided itself on balanced reporting of claims made by special-interest groups. Moore’s documentary “SiCKO,” which makes an impassioned case for a complete overhaul of the U.S. health care system, was not exempt from that reporting.

And there’s the rub. In their desire to present objectivity, CNN has instead demonstrated ambivalence. Again, there’s a mis-labeling of Moore and his efforts by citing him as a “special-interest group” except you won’t find an army of lobbyists descending on Washington with millions of dollars to donate for the cause of free, universal health care. This forced equality makes you look even more ridiculous as you might as well devote equal time to showing why Evolution has as much merit as Intelligent Design even though one is grounded in fact and the other is grounded in spirituality. And if CNN is truly trying to stand up for the little corporations, then where are the stories about how McDonalds isn’t as bad as your obesity-epidemic stories may claim? The truth is that you don’t take a side because you want to appeal to as broad an audience as possible while still maintaining an illusion of ethical journalism.

So I take the time to laugh at you today because it’s fairly obvious that you think you’re being unfairly attacked my Michael Moore, it’s also obvious that you’re not the fair and balanced (I’m sorry, would you prefer “equal and evenhanded?”) news source that you think you are.

*Image Credit: Offline Adventures of an Internet Junkie.

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