CNN is hiring redstate.com, rw extremist to join John King USA..

[Cha]

I feel this is important to keep tabs on just how far cnn is willing to go into mediawhoredom to catch up with fauxsn00ze.


"THIS IS CNN?.... If I didn't get independent confirmation of this, I honestly would have assumed the announcement was some elaborate practical joke. Alas, it's true.

Prominent conservative commentator and RedState.com editor Erick Erickson will join CNN as a political contributor, appearing primarily on CNN's new show John King, USA¸ the network announced Tuesday.

Erickson, a self described "obsessive news junkie" who grew up in Dubai and rural Louisiana, will also provide perspective and commentary on other programs across the network. <...>

"Erick's a perfect fit for John King, USA, because not only is he an agenda-setter whose words are closely watched in Washington, but as a person who still lives in small-town America, Erick is in touch with the very people John hopes to reach," said Sam Feist, CNN political director and vice president of Washington-based programming. "With Erick's exceptional knowledge of politics, as well as his role as a conservative opinion leader, he will add an important voice to CNN's ideologically diverse group of political contributors."

This is easily the worst decision CNN has ever made. That the network probably reviewed Erickson's work before hiring him, and offered him a job anyway, suggests CNN's professional standards for what constitutes "an important voice" have all but disappeared.

The point here isn't that it's disappointing to see CNN hire yet another conservative voice, adding to its already-large stable of conservative voices. To be sure, it's frustrating, but it's nothing new.

The problem here is with Erickson himself.

For example, it wasn't long ago when Erickson explained his belief on why the left has a stronger online presence than the right. He attributed it to an asymmetry in free time, since conservatives "have families because we don't abort our kids, and we have jobs because we believe in capitalism."

This is the same Erickson who recently called retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter a "goat f--king child molester," referred to two sitting U.S. senators as "healthcare suicide bombers," praised protesters for "tell Nancy Pelosi and the Congress to send Obama to a death panel" (he later backpedaled on that one), and described President Obama's Nobel Prize as "an affirmative action quota."

And perhaps my personal favorite was the time, just last year, when Erickson was angry about new environmental regulations relating to dishwasher detergent. He told his readers, "At what point do the people tell the politicians to go to hell? At what point do they get off the couch, march down to their state legislator's house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?"

There was a point when major professional outlets would look at a voice like this as an "extremist," to be shut out of the mainstream of America's civil discourse. CNN, however, considers

CNN will no doubt hear about blog posts like this one, and assume that liberals are angry because the network hired a right-wing blogger. But that's not it -- there are thoughtful, intelligent conservative bloggers in the country, who occasionally have insightful things to say. The problem here is that Erick Erickson isn't one of them.

This is a genuinely sad day for American journalism. CNN ought to be ashamed of itself."

—Steve Benen 12:25 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (32)
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

How about some balance, cnn?

CNN-
(404) 827 – 1500
Comment line: (404) 827 - 0234
(From grasswire
fax: [phone].
CNN NEWS DIRECTOR Kim Bondy. 404 827 1500. fax. [phone]
CNN NEWSROOM 404.827.1500 . 404.827.1500. [e-mail]
Call Anderson Cooper at 1-866-NY-AC360

Everyone at CNN is listed individually on this page: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/cnntv /
(Thanks to Frenchie's Action Numbers)

[quiet.american]

1. I'd read this - it strikes me as the Glenn Beck-inazation/Idiocratization of US media.

Sometimes I wonder if "teh stupid" has reached epidemic, unrecoverable proportions.

[Cha]

2. cnn is a drooling mediawhore corporation and they are

rabidly jealous of fauxsn00ze's share of the market. Therefore they think they're being very clever..not stupid at all.:silly:

I can tell this by their actions and it's up to Americans who want real news and not propaganda to hold cnn accountable.

[quiet.american]

3. No argument here. :) nt

[FrenchieCat]

4. United Citizen here we come!

CNN and the others are about to do as much GOP propagandizing as possible.....
cause that's where we are going, back rightward!

Meanwhile, folks here fight with each other, and then we complaint that our
Congressfolks are to blame. Perhaps we should be looking in that mirror,
cause far as I'm concerned, we ain't good for shit.

[Cha]

5. I hear ya.. a Democratic board on the whole

should be fighting rw propaganda that is being set up even more to become a tidal wave..a tsunami if you will..on the American People. They've seen what the Perfect Storm of the bushcheney years did to create the majority voting in the Democrat who just happened to be a Black man.

Can't have that continuing and they are going all out at any cost to stop it in its tracks.

Thank the Universe that we do have President Obama now and I want this intelligent oppostion to propaganda to have the Power to continue!