Perhaps I’ve just been reading too much Chomsky of late but a particular story on the front page of CNN really got under my skin. ‘The Bachelorette’ falls for fireman Front and centre on their primary page under “top stories” CNN is plugging this garbage reality tv show. Surely this indicates a sad state of affairs? I mean who in their right mind would take CNN’s reporting on iraq seriously when right next to their terrorism story, they have stupid advertorials about dating shows?
Does this take away from CNN’s credability? I think so.
Credibility? What credibility? After they ran that video (courtesy of CIA productions) showing al-qaeda poisoning cute fluffy puppies, they lost what shred of credibility they might have had. ANybody who has been to a poor 3rd world country knows that cute fluffy puppies either get eaten or get real mangy right away coz there is no food to feed them.
You could certainly argue that 'Entertainment News" is of interest to a great many people. So on their main page they give the top stories that people are likely to click on.
They used to have a feature in which you could see which stories are being read most often, but I can’t find that now (maybe it’s been removed).
If (and it’s a really big IF) you learned that the Bachlorette story was the most popular, would this change your opinion of the reasonableness of having it on thier “top stories?”
Or should CNN (and other news sources) offer stories that they think are the most newsworthy, regardless of their appeal? That’s a debate in itself.
The title of the thread sort of implies CNN is plugging its own show, so just to set the record straight, I’d point out that the show in question is (according to the CNN story) an ABC show; ABC is part of the Disney media mega-conglomerate, whereas CNN is part of AOL Time Warner. So it’s not so much “self-referential” media conglomerates as it is one media mega-conglomerate selflessly plugging the product of another media mega-conglomerate.
Do you have a cite for the claim that that video was faked by the CIA?
I think my qualm lies with the precedent of reporting on such rubbish. I don’t see it making a difference if CNN reports their own shows or their friends, b/c I’m sure NBC reports Time Warner productions.
I certainly know my nightly news will always run stories on shows that will later appear on the same channel.