Josh Marshall walks right up to the line of going Full Beltway on us by issuing a near apologia on CNN's behalf. The camerawoman-peanuts story "puts CNN in an exquisitely awkward position," writes Marshall, since "There’s a normal and correct tendency for a news outfit not to want to make itself into the story."
Marshall then acknowledges that "this goes way beyond that," though, because of CNN's market-maneuvering into the middle. The network cannot now afford to offend either partisan side, otherwise its careful positioning collapses.
All of this is offered in the way of an explanation, but it comes across (it did to me, anyway) as at least approaching the sympathetic: CNN's position is exquisitely awkward.
No, it isn't. It is, rather, deeply non-journalistic.
No network news executive should be in the business of news as a meticulously balanced ideological scorecard. Yet when CNN decided to play the middle, it didn't just box itself in--it cut itself out of much of the real news, such as the sick, soul-eaten corruption of today's Republican Party, and now a huge story concerning itself.
Fox News may be a screaming whore and MSNBC a higher-priced escort, but at least they make little pretense for what they are. CNN? It's more like a moralizing Molièrean hypocrite. And there's no excuse for that--nothing even close.
Andrew Sullivan expatiated on CNN with greater economy than Marshall:
CNN sucks ... because this awful notion of balance - which requires journalists to be lobotomized when assessing reality - is "on-brand."
Good place for a final period.
God bless Andrew Sullivan.
Posted by: MinneapolisPipe | August 29, 2012 at 01:03 PM
For what it is worth, here is a concept for a TV news channel: (1) reports public events as they happen with a modicum of commentary for context; (2) use ruthless investigative journalist to discover and report the truth as news stories; (3) use merciless, non-partisan analysis to develop opinion and comentary about significant issues and report them as such; and (4) use host with sharp-edged-steel interogatory skills to inview guests or to facilitate a debate between guests with opposing opinions.
In case I was not clear, use these methods even-handedly with all subjects in an effort to discover and present THE TRUTH versus finding the proverbial "middle ground".
I am pretty sure i would pay a hefty monthly fee to get that channel.
Further, I would rejoice when they ripped a Democrat a new one because it would make my team better.
Posted by: Robert Lipscomb | August 29, 2012 at 02:58 PM
Why torture yourself by watching this insanity? Tune them out and go watch a baseball game. Baseball, definitely an aide to maintaining one's rationality!
Posted by: BobH | August 29, 2012 at 09:43 PM
It's no surprise that CNN has taken a ratings hit. It has moved so far away from what Ted Turner intended the network to be when he established it. I haven't depended upon CNN for any type of news since Turner made the deal with AOL. The only reason I watch CNN at all is to catch the murder mysteries that come on very late on the weekends. I find Dale Hinman, the former FBI profiler, to be a rather interesting crime solver.
Posted by: majii | August 30, 2012 at 12:05 AM