DU CNN and Kelli Arena!

[senseandsensibility]

For those of you that haven't heard, CNN repeatedly ran a piece by Kelli Arena yesterday, using "some speculation" and a couple of very fuzzy experts to say that Al Qaeda would prefer Kerry to be President, or in effect, that a vote for Kerry is a vote for the terrorists. If you haven't e-mailed her or CNN yet, please do so. We NEED to stop this now before it spreads throughout the whore media. Her e-mail address is [e-mail]
Here's my e-mail sent today
Ms. Arena,
Apparently you are employed as a journalist by CNN. In that capacity, you naturally would want to convey the most accurate information possible to the public, since your job as a journalist is to provide the public with information that is reliable and based on fact. However, I'm a little confused. Yesterday I heard you acting as a Bush spokesperson in an election year. You were spreading the most vile and disgusting innuendo against a combat Vietnam war veteran, who is currently leading Bush in all polls. Your evidence for this smear was a couple of very unimpressive, and more to the point, vague and speculative "experts." You stated, oh so seriously, that there is "some speculation that..." There was so qualification or opposing viewpoint given. Since you have appparently quit your job as a "journalist", and been recruited by the Bush administration, I feel that it is unfair for you to continue appearing on the airwaves as a CNN reporter. Call me crazy if you will. What can I say? I see it as a conflict of interest. DO THE RIGHT THING,Kelli! Resign form CNN, and pour your whole heart and soul into getting Bush elected. You know you want to.

[americanstranger]

1. TBTM and Blah3 are on it!

Here's the letter we sent to Arena, her boss Eason Jordan, and every other reporter and anchor at CNN (list appears below):

Mr. Jordan,

I'm watching the third re-run of Kelli Arena's report, in which she claims that "there is some speculation that al Qaeda believes it has a better chance of winning in Iraq if John Kerry is in the White House."

I would like to know who, specifically, in Al Qaeda told Ms. Arena that such was the case. After all, your reporters wouldn't dare state baseless speculation as fact in the course of their reporting, would they?

Failing identifying a verifiable source for this assertion in Ms. Arena's report, CNN should issue a public, on-air retraction to Ms. Arena's assertion. After all, Al Qaeda is in fact on the record as having publically stated that they would prefer George W. Bush to win the upcoming election (cite: http://www.terroranalysis.com/story/38583.html).

Ms. Arena's baseless speculation reported as fact could have the unexpected effect of swaying voters to vote for George W. Bush out of fear that Mr. Kerry would 'let Al Qaeda win in Iraq.' Let's leave aside the issue that it's not proven that those people in Iraq who are fighting our troops are actually Al Qaeda fighters at all.

I grew up believing in the power of the Fourth Estate as an impartial and fair observer of domestic affairs, working in the public interest without bias or political preference. Ms. Arena's baseless speculation reported as fact gives me cause to doubt your network's objectivity.

Ms. Arena should be ashamed, and the other reporters and anchors at your network should be very concerned at the slipshod manner in which Ms. Arena reported this story.

That is, unless, your network and its employees wish to tilt the election in favor of George W. Bush.

Retract this story. Today. Your credibility as a news network is on the line, whether you realize it or not.

Respectfully,
Don Waller, Co-Founder
Take Back The Media

-----

I urge everyone to write - and tell them you won't watch their channel or patronize their sponsors until a retraction is made.

Email list follows. Use it!

-as

-----

[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], miles.o'[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]

[senseandsensibility]

5. Great response!

It was well written, professional, and to the point. Everything that Arena's report wasn't. Thanks so much to Take Back the Media. Any response from CNN?

[calimary]

8. Excellent letter. I hope you followed it up with a snail mail copy.

That one's harder to delete.

FURTHERMORE, guys, I suggest strongly that when you write to some news outlet about something like this, that you do something else, VERY wicked and effective and embarrassing:

You CC: that letter to MSNBC, ABC, CBS (I wouldn't bother with the Pox network), plus the New York Times and the Washington Post, and maybe Newsday, the LA Times and the Chicago Tribune or some other outlet - maybe the one in your own area. The bigger a stink we can make about this, and the WIDER a stink - where more people know CNN is being chastised by someone, the better. CNN would NOT like it rubbed in its collective nose that OTHER media outlets, including their competition, is being notified that yet another listener or viewer is alienated, and has taken them to task for their sloppy, inexcusable bias. You're airing their dirty laundry for them, thank you very much!

CNN
1 CNN Center
Atlanta, GA 30303

If you like, you can add -
Attention: Public Information
or just direct it to Eason Jordan via that address.
Look: Right now, the press is going through the DT's because of the whole Chalabi caper, and many outlets are starting to reexamine themselves, their consciences, and their coverage. It truly is like a hangover after another lost weekend, or an all-night bender. Fifty-five percent of the news outlets surveyed in a recent Pew Research Center poll said they think they've gone too easy on bush. The whole New York Times disaster with Judith Miller in bed (figuratively, at least, if indeed not literally) with Chalabi has produced a true crisis of confidence. Their credibility is in the shit-house, and many of them know this. This idiocy just adds to that impression, and gives more credence to those of us who have been complaining about this for so long. People in the news business are more sensitive to this criticism now, and we should seize the moment.

So, I'd spread this around a little. Right now, the situation's quite ripe for this critique. Some media people who have begun to wake up and feel guilty about what they've enabled with their negligence will take this more seriously than they might have - maybe even just 5 or 6 weeks ago.

If Kelli Arena wants to be a COMMENTATOR, fine. But she should NOT be putting unverified, unsubstantiated opinion into her news reports and mischaracterizing them as elements of objective news coverage. AND SHE NEEDS TO BE CALLED ON THIS.

And by the way, YES, absolutely, go over her head to her supervisors, and to Eason Jordan. Go to the top.

[senseandsensibility]

10. Yes, I did

e-mail Jordan as well. Thanks for the great ideas. I do think that the media is more receptive now, and I know we can make a difference!

[calimary]

25. They are DEFINITELY more receptive to it right now. How do I know?

Consider:

A few weeks ago, I sent an email to Tom Curley, the new chief of the AP, who'd spoken at a conference in Riverside about how government secrecy has just gotten way out of hand, and journalists need to start standing up to it. He suggested a media lobby to give 'em hell.


http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/peninsula/8619334.htm?1c

He wrote me back, thanking me for my response, and said they were indeed working on this.

Also: there's been a cascade of stories about the aftermath of the New York Times/Ahmed Chalabi scandal. Here's JUST one... "US journalists face credibility gap":

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1224129,00.html

They ARE sensitive about this. More and more by the day.

THEN, there's this one - "Press feels it's gone easy on bush"

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/05/24/press_feels_its_gone_easy_on_bush/

from the Boston Globe, which mentioned the Pew Research Center study, done in collaboration with the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Committee of Concerned Journalists.

I clicked to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, and somehow found my way to the website for Editor and Publisher - an industry trade. I wrote the following email to its editor, Greg Mitchell:

5/27/04

Dear Greg,

I've read with amusement the coverage in Editor & Publisher about the latest, and most egregious, failings of the New York Times.

Now that I've scraped myself off the floor and composed myself following some rather raucous guffawing, I'm more able to tell you that this is BEYOND high time that the Times came clean.

I retired from the Associated Press in 1996, still relatively proud to have spent more than two decades of my life in this previously honorable profession. At the time, other reporters and editors only seemed ferociously motivated to dig into every file and drawer of Bill Clinton, spurred on by an increasingly hateful and rabid right-wing cabal - mainly from increasingly powerful talk radio. But since, I have seen the quality of coverage and objectivity decline substantially. It appeared more and more as though whatever Republicans or conservatives said was taken at face value and promptly run with, while anything from Democrats or liberals (or even moderates) was either ignored, scoffed at, or given short shrift. What rare corrections of the record were usually buried on page 24 somewhere, amid lots of ads. Funny, that's what we now see of the New York Times (although I guess we should be grateful for SOME admission of guilt - their "The Times and Iraq" column got a promotion - all the way up to page 10 - wow!

I have been increasingly distressed, since the advent of the younger George Bush, that the coverage of anything about him has been so slight and so soft, and so unquestioning. There's enough room to launch a few dozen exposes and separate investigations of his White House by now. But did Judith Miller, for one, EVER seriously consider the input from respected voices such as Scott Ritter and Hans Blix, or ANY of those who could describe what was going on in ways that did not conform to the "inside dope" from her own personal "inside dope"?

If the Times is truly to come clean, along with other editors and reporters throughout the country who blindly and mutely accepted the free pass for Bush that relentlessly came from the New York Times, Miller must be either repudiated or fired, outright, for incompetence. Other reporters and editors, in all fairness, should fall on their swords in some way. The Times certainly had no trouble dealing as decisively with Jayson Blair, did it? Isn't this crisis worse?

I have been lamenting what I can only call GROSS DERELICTION OF DUTY by my former profession. By now, in fact, I'm actually embarrassed to admit I used to be a reporter - something in which I once took a great deal of pride. The reporting profession I grew up admiring and wanting to join has slapped me in the face in its headlong rush to curry favor and gain access from people who have steered America wrong and have served its citizens, voters, and soldiers, extremely poorly. The reporting profession I yearned to be part of, while watching what truths were unearthed - BY reporters - during Watergate, has turned from watchdog to lapdog.

This profession has broken its trust with the people. No wonder fewer and fewer people get their news from respectable newspapers, and now think yammering hyenas with unapologetic agendas are the best information brokers. No wonder more and more people like myself are turning to the Internet and to alternative and international media sources for the truth about our government (many people I know, including myself, now prefer the BBC and the UK Guardian as a primary source for news). No wonder a majority of Americans STILL believes that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11. No wonder most people don't bother to vote, unless it's for the next "American Idol."

And by the way, assuming the New York Times (and, by extension, other reporters, editors, and newspapers across the country) "fully intend to continue our aggressive reporting aimed at setting the record straight" - can we then expect you all, in the interest of fairness and balance, to give the same free pass and lapdog treatment to the Kerry Administration? Or do you still plan to go easy only on Republicans?

Thanks for considering this. Sorry it's so long, but the offenses that provoked it are, unfortunately, even longer.

Sincerely,

(me)

Okay. Sorry this is long, but it's not the end of it. He emailed me back, saying thank-you and that he'd like to consider this further when he had a moment. I then emailed him a second time, saying, basically, "thank you and bless your heart." WHEREUPON, I get a SECOND email back from him, saying he's bailing out for a long weekend but wants me to get in touch with him next week to write a guest column about this.

heh-heh-heh...

LOOK FOLKS, LONG STORY MADE NOT SO SHORT - this stuff matters, folks!! IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!!! IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!!! You've GOT to make contact with these people. IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!!!!! I am seeing it more and more NOW especially, because there are some bigtime mea culpas going around in the newsrooms of America right now. Believe it. Oh, and did I mention that it's CRUCIAL TO WRITE TO THESE PEOPLE AND SET 'EM STRAIGHT, AND TELL 'EM YOU'RE PAYING ATTENTION AND YOU'RE ONTO THEM? AND THAT IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE????

[senseandsensibility]

28. Hey, don't apologize

for the length! Sometimes it's more than necessary, especially when the facts are on YOUR side. You probably could have written pages more, considering the amount of material you had to work with. Thanks for all your hard work, from one DUer to another. :) :-) :D

[calimary]

30. Hey, I'll have you know I wouldn't have found ANY of those links without

DU. People post VERY valuable stuff here, all the time. THIS is like a think-tank, or a graduate-level research department.

Will Pitt told me that, in a post here once, himself. We are ALL foolish, as he put it, NOT to take advantage of the outstanding resource that DU is.

So thanks back atcha!

HUGS!

[Gman]

35. My letter:

My Dear Ms. Arena,

I need a little help checking out your assertion that John Kerry is supported by Al-Queda. Please help me out on this. I have been through as many news websites as I can find, and I just don’t see anywhere that Al-Queda had a press conference endorsing Kerry for president. Do you know of any such sources for an Al-Queda endorsement? Do you have anything at all except a feeble little opinion that Al-Queda supports Kerry? Perhaps you can point out cars or trucks owned by Al-Queda members with Kerry bumper stickers. Or even perhaps you know of some Al-Queda safe houses with Kerry yard signs. Oh, you don’t know of any of these things? Well then how could you possibly come to the incredibly idiotic conclusion that Al-Queda supports Kerry?

I don’t feel it is my job to educate you on how a journalist distinguishes between opinion and fact. I don’t have the time nor the inclination to do this if you are incompetent enough to make the assertion that Al-Queda supports Kerry as a journalist employed by CNN. I just don’t think you would understand. Frankly, I’m starting to question if you are even aware of whom Al-Queda is and if you are simply parroting some of the hate that spews from the GOP and the fascist right wing of this country. At least on paper, you are allegedly a journalist. But I’m beginning to wonder if this “journalist” title is a cover for your role in the RNC or maybe the Bush (re)election campaign. If so, will the RNC or C(R)EEP be reporting this in kind contribution from CNN on its financial reports?

Of course I don’t expect you to be smart enough to answer any of these questions after your idiotic assertion about Kerry being supported by Al-Queda as you have shown just how completely and incredibly incompetent you really are. Do us all a big favor. Shut up. Just keep your mouth shut. You have opened your mouth and showed the entire world that has access to cable TV just what an ignorant fool you really are. Stop embarrassing yourself and go find a job at the Sunny Slope Motel on Hwy 83 as a chamber maid. Its honorable work and you won’t have to embarrass yourself in front of the entire world again.

---

Maybe I was a little too tough on her.... Nah!

[senseandsensibility]

39. Nah...

is right! I love it!}(

[Rowdyboy]

2. I sent a very nasty letter yesterday but

she'll just delete them all. We need to contact the head of the news dept or their advertisers. That'll get her attention.

[maggrwaggr]

3. fax them. That way they can't delete it like an e-mail at least

here's the number for Eason Jordan's office FAX

404 827 4215

[Newkophile]

4. My letter to KA

Quite frankly, what you did was contemptible. Report facts, not conjecture by people who wish to see the chickenhawk in chief re-selected. You did a disservice to a genuine patriot and war hero, one who has been in the trenches and knows what it takes for honorable combat and eventual victory. The idea that the media is "liberal" is a huge joke as your disgusting piece demonstrated.

[senseandsensibility]

6. Ouch!

That's gotta hurt if you're a slimy little CNN whore. Great job!:D

[maggrwaggr]

7. nice! Welcome to DU by the way

[Kahuna]

27. Nice Letter. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[nostamj]

9. my blast to CNN et al.....

Subj: Kelli Arena has gone too far

We are becoming (sadly) accustomed to the pro-Bush bias of many of CNN's "reporters" (esp. Leslie Blitzer, Crowley, Woodruff and Hemmer).

But to suggest that a vote for Kerry is to vote with al Qaeda is utterly disgusting.

from yesterday's CNN transcript:

"there is some speculation that al Qaeda believes it has a better chance of winning in Iraq if John Kerry is in the White House."

An apology from Ms. Arena and a public rebuke from CNN should be forthcoming immediately.

[senseandsensibility]

11. Nice!

Great e-mail. I'm just curious, any response?

[nostamj]

14. "any response?"

nope... but, I expect they got THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of them.

[americanstranger]

15. I can tell you the blogosphere...

went NUTS with this yesterday.

I called the atlanta office to register my displeasure, and the guy who took my call wouldn't comment on how many calls he'd gotten - but I'll tell ya, it sounded as though he'd been getting his ears burned all morning.

Good. Let's keep the pressure on. In a week when the NYTimes almost admitted how badly they screwed up, all these media outlets are low-hanging fruit. I say we pick 'em off, one by one.

-as

[nostamj]

17. atrios, TPM, salon,com

all had items AND CNN contact info....

I'm sure there were many others I didn't see.

[Bluebear]

12. My email to CNN

Good day, I am extremely distressed by the Kelli Arena op-ed masquerading as journalism regarding Al Qaeda possibly "preferring" Kerry in the White House so they could win in Iraq. I have rarely seen such a case of wild speculation under the guise of 'reporting'. I call on Ms. Arena to reveal her source in the Al Qaeda organization or, in the alternative, for CNN to issue a full retraction to this irresponsible story. Our nation has been mislead by enough unnamed "credible intelligence" recently and this piece was beyond the pale.

Thank you for your time.

[senseandsensibility]

16. Yeah, that's the point

Where's the evidence besides the "speculation" that she admits to? :-) :)

[kentuck]

13. And these people want to be called "journalists" ?

Give each of them their own entertainment show and let them talk about Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant, J-Lo, Madonna, and stuff they are knowledgeable about,but keep them out of the fucking news rooms.

[senseandsensibility]

18. I agree totally

but don't you think it's something even more sinister? Sure they're airheads, but their "reports" ALWAYS favor *. That's not a coincidence. If they're too dumb to slant their "reports" themselves, then someone is doing it for them.

[progressivebydesign]

19. I was so angry about this, I wrote, too!

I won't cut and paste the entire letter. But it does call her to task for her assertions. It also suggests that she find another career where honesty and integrity are not important.. I actually suggested a gig as a 900 number psychic for her. I was on a roll. :hi:

[senseandsensibility]

20. If nothing else

it helps YOU feel better. But I think it does more. I think they're listening.;) :D

[kentuck]

21. Here's another email just sent....

Ms Arena,

We all make mistakes - including the NY Times. But they have admitted theirs. I hope you and your employer can see the seriousness of your mistake and give the people a public retraction.

It was way over the top to suggest in your reporting that al Qaeda would prefer John Kerry over George Bush because "there is some speculation that al Qaeda believes it has a better chance of winning in Iraq if John Kerry is in the White House." Surely any beginning journalist can see the color yellow in that type of reporting.?

But most observant citizens realize you are not alone at CNN with that type of reporting. You have good company with Wolf Blitzer and Judy Woodruff, just to mention a couple. Hopefully, you are not following their example because they seem to be overly-influenced by criminals like Robert Novak and FOX wanna-bes. I think your entire network needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror and decide whether or not you are capable of being journalists.

[maggrwaggr]

24. nice letter!

Seriously, I like that approach.

Shame them.

[senseandsensibility]

34. Good one!

And don't forget Candy Crowley, the worst of the worst, works for CNN.

[Kahuna]

22. My email to the witch...

Reporting that terrorists want John Kerry to win is beyond despicable and a brand new low for CNN. Have you asked any terrorists who they are rooting for? . Did you run one of CNN's famous polls? Since you have nothing to back this up with other than RNC talking points, one could justifiably surmise that you are a tool for the RNC.

What makes you think that the terrorists would prefer Kerry anyway? G. Dubya has been a BOON for recruitment. Usama Bin Laden is still on the loose and apparently in no danger of imminent capture. Why don't you do a story using this angle. At least you would have a few facts to support it from this angle.

[senseandsensibility]

29. Thanks!

I like the part about the famous CNN polls, but unfortunately, I don't thin Kelli used anything even that reliable.

[ThatPoetGuy]

23. My letter

Al-Qaeda's chances of winning

Ms. Arena:

When George W. Bush turned all our American might away from Al-Qaeda and focussed on Iraq, he not only handed Al-Qaeda a tremendous victory -- he did it because he had been manipulated by Iranian spies.

Spies from Iran fooled the Bush white house so thoroughly that Iran was able to play its enemies against each other -- Iraq is destroyed, and the US severely damaged. Al Qaeda has won a victory, Iran has won a victory, all through the stupidity and the infallibility complex of the Bush white house.

Every terrorist in the world dreams of being so lucky as to find a U.S. president eager to do their bidding. A vote for Bush is a vote for bin Laden.

Remember that name? Osama bin Laden? Bush doesn't.

[senseandsensibility]

31. OMG

That's a great letter, poet guy! Your points are excellent. I'm sure the truth will hurt Ms. Arena, if she's capable of understanding your words. Thanks!:)

[Feanorcurufinwe]

38. My letter

Subject:Journalistic integrity

Ms. Arena,

I was shocked and appalled to hear you spread the meme that a vote for John Kerry is a vote for Al Qaeda. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Al Qaeda has benefited enormously from the global ill-will towards the United States, as well as from the isolation from our allies, engendered by Bush's reckless policies. Of course, the Bush campaign would love to have you repeat their talking points under the guise of an 'independent' and 'impartial' journalist.

But is it really journalism? Examine your conscience.

Respectfully, but with outrage,

[senseandsensibility]

40. I am honestly blown away

by the forcefulness, intelligence and beauty of the e-mails sent by DUers! Maybe I'm prejudiced, but I think you're all geniuses!:-)

[Kahuna]

26. John Kerry should issue a public statement. He needs to put an end..

to this bullshit (immitating Al Gore) Raight naw!

[senseandsensibility]

32. Yes, I agree

He does, and the sooner the better. Does anyone know about any forthcoming statements by Kerry?

[Kahuna]

33. How can we get AAR to address this next week? Every talk jock..

on the station should hammer this story until we get results. Now that it has been announced that AAR actually DOES have an audience, it's time to sieze the same power that the wingnuts have siezed.

[mandyky]

36. O'Franken Factor and Majority Report have blogs

Post there about this. Also, there are feedback forms for all the shows. I am sure Morning Sedition and Unfiltered would also jump on this.

[Kahuna]

37. Well, more specifially, does anybody here have any pull with AAR..

that can get this issue the attention it needs. I know about the blogs. I avoid the blogs because of the tiny fonts. Today's webmasters have is no consideration for over forty eyes. I hate that. x(

[Bluebear]

41. kick nt

[goclark]

42. Fantastic! She was way out of line n/t

[HootieMcBoob]

43. kick n/t

[Kahuna]

44. Kick

:kick:

[homelandpunk]

45. my letter to sweet Kelli:

I am an expert and know al Qaeda thinks that you are not a
journalist. Therefore my vouched for expertise means all three things are accurate: 1) I am an expert. 2) my knowledge of al Qaeda's american journalism ethics beliefs 3) that you are not a journalist.

Kelli, go work for Bush already. Kee-riced.

[senseandsensibility]

46. LOL

Great!:D