Dear Israel: you picked wrong boat to mess with. Israeli patrol boats have rammed into and nearly capsized a relief vesssel sailing in international waters, bearing humanitarian medical aid to Gaza. Accompanying the international doctors and aid workers who comprised the heart of the mssion were several politicians, including former US congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, as well as several international journalists, such as Karl Penhaul of CNN and Othman Abu Battiri of Al Jazeera, who have used mobile video reporting to refute Israel's claims that the damage was somehow caused by those leading the relief mission. Shades of the USS Liberty... or Whale Wars?
posted by markkraft on Jan 1, 2009 - 375 comments

The "sacred flame" winds its way towards Beijing, creating new flashpoints like a car bumper scraping sparks from the pavement.

The chinese public's anger at CNN now has a wildly popular theme song. "You can't turn lies into the truth by repeating them a thousand times"

Chinese nationalism and an American backlash are both growing. Where is all this leading to? And even if we can't understand how China sees Tibet, or know whether the Shanghai Princesses will really give up their Chanel, can we at least assure the Chinese that we don't like Jack Cafferty either?
posted by Tlogmer on Apr 19, 2008 - 100 comments

CNN's Glenn Beck to the United State's first-ever Muslim congressman: "[W]hat I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies'"
posted by chunking express on Nov 16, 2006 - 164 comments

On Sept. 11, CNN will replay its coverage from 2001 in real time, online. They will make their little-noticed Pipeline service free for the day.
posted by CunningLinguist on Aug 25, 2006 - 124 comments

Ava Lowery is a 15 year old master of flash-based propaganda, and burgeoning media sensation. Lowery's clips (especially this one but also ones like this and this (more here)), have been described as mere facile emotionalism. Others however regard her work as courageous and truthful. She was enlisted to express the soul of the movement for the recent Yearly Kos convention in Las Vegas. One thing's for sure: Lowery's method of story telling leaves traditional media confused and bewildered.
posted by washburn on Jun 29, 2006 - 113 comments

Talking Heads. Not until I stumbled upon this site did I figure out what it was the the Internet was missing. I've wanted to have Sanjay on my desktop for so long. And now that I have the ability to vote for which "journalist" I think is the hottest, I can finally feel as if I am participating in these news programs. That is Democracy, after all.
posted by panoptican on Sep 22, 2005 - 33 comments

Jack Cafferty pulls a Jon Stewart --Cafferty, CNN's resident curmudgeon, goes off live on the coverage of the BTK killer. (video here at Crooks and Liars) ... This is a ghoulish exercise on the part of the news media and if ratings are the reason, then I’ll say it again, we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. There was no reason to give this guy a platform to talk to everybody in the country ... With cameras in courtrooms almost everywhere nowadays, what is the media's responsibility?
posted by amberglow on Aug 19, 2005 - 82 comments

CNN Executive Eason Jordan has resigned. He says he is leaving the news network before his comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos "unfairly tarnish" CNN. Sources allege he said at a panel on "Will Democracy Survive the Media?" that American servicemen are intentionally targeting and killing journalists in Iraq. Congressman Barney Frank, who was also on the panel at Davos, was one of the first to criticizes Jordan. Oddly Jordan, who claims his comments are being misunderstood, has resigned before a transcript or video of the event has even surfaced.

While there has been very little coverage of this in the "traditional media," motivated people mobilized quickly across the Internet(s). All of this very similar to the recent controversies with Dan Rather, and "Jeff Gannon."

Both Left & Right, has there been a power-shift in the media to the general citizens of this country? What does this say about the accountability of the media in the future?
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood on Feb 12, 2005 - 82 comments

Global Attention Profiles. Mapping media focus.
posted by srboisvert on Dec 10, 2003 - 4 comments

"Mac or PC" question planted at the Rock the Vote debate. After much ridicule and criticism over her question, Brown University student Alexandra Trustman has written an Op-Ed to the campus Daily Herald explaining that CNN planted the question with her so they could "modulate the event" in order to keep the debate "light-hearted" making it easier for "the candidates to relate to a younger audience." Trustman, feeling that the question CNN gave her was not relevant, wrote a different, and more relevant she thought, question on "how, if elected, the candidates would use technology in their administrations." The executive producer told her just to read the card they had given her.


Howard Kurtz reports today that CNN regrets getting caught the producer's actions.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood on Nov 11, 2003 - 45 comments

"Given the choice, it's better to be viewed as a foot soldier for Bush than a spokeswoman for al-Qaeda." This quote, captured in a USA Today article, came from Fox News spokeswoman Irena Briganti in response to allegations that CNN "was intimidated" by the Bush administration and Fox News, which "put a climate of fear and self-censorship."
posted by FormlessOne on Sep 15, 2003 - 37 comments

BBC "Fresh doubts over Iraq's arsenal". CNN "Pentagon: WMD report consistent with U.S. case" Google News lists many other sources on this topic, with varying titles depending on who you read.
posted by CrazyJub on Jun 6, 2003 - 29 comments

When Flash meets news cheese. The drums come in like Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks." The cop show synth-strings are ratcheted up to the most intense possible level. It's CNN having a war orgasm, in this ad for the Iraq Tracker, which apparently sits on your desktop and provides news as exciting as a coke overdose.
posted by inksyndicate on Feb 27, 2003 - 31 comments

CNN Wins Ratings for Shuttle Coverage Despite the absence of chief anchor Aaron Brown, CNN scored a significant ratings victory over rival Fox News Channel on Saturday when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated Reading that immediately reminds me of what I hate about the news media. One can only imagine how they are salivating over the pending Iraq situation.
posted by a3matrix on Feb 4, 2003 - 17 comments

Al-Jazeera Severs Ties With CNN: Does it strike anyone as particularly rich that Al Jazeera, the Arab television network, decided to sever ties with CNN after CNN broadcast portions of a video showing bin Laden making his least ambiguous statements yet on al Qaeda's alleged involvement in the terrorist attacks of 9/11? [more inside...]
posted by verdezza on Feb 1, 2002 - 3 comments

CNN Chief orders "balance" in war coverage. Earlier this year, CNN Chief Walter Isaacson got chummy with GOP lawmakers and begged them for tips on how to attract more conservative viewers. Next, he tried to bring Rush Limbaugh to CNN. Now he's issued a memo to his reporters, urging them "to balance images of civilian devastation in Afghan cities with reminders that the Taliban harbors murderous terrorists, saying it "seems perverse to focus too much on the casualties or hardship in Afghanistan." Is this "balance", or is he urging CNN to gloss over the realities of what is happening in Afghanistan?
posted by mattpusateri on Oct 31, 2001 - 37 comments

CNN & FOX: Birds of a feather? In an effort to improve his network's image with conservative leaders, new CNN chief Walter Isaacson huddled with House and Senate GOP leaders last week to seek advice on how to attract more right-leaning viewers to the sagging network.
posted by Rastafari on Aug 5, 2001 - 10 comments

That dude that's been doing the Gore vs. Bush graphics for CNN has outdone himself. It looks like Gore is actually trying to bite Bush's head... Egads!
posted by Niccola Six on Nov 29, 2000 - 16 comments