Write CNN and complain about Paula Zahn.

[saracat]

Fox Media Whore that she is , she just went over the top on the Berger story. She rolled her eyes and made it very clear"surely you don't believe he was that stupid?" And expressed complete contempt for Leon Panetta. She encouraged the Repug congressman to trash Berger and implicate Kerry. It was an awful display. She should have been fired long ago. This is the nastiest I have ever seen her behave and she is usually awful!

[physioex]

1. I gave up on cable news long time ago..

Maybe I have gotten too cynical...

[arwalden]

7. Same Here... I Was Cable-News-Free For Over A Year

and my quality of life improved dramatically.

I peeked in to cable-news sources during some of the 9-11 hearings, and (re)discovered that my reasons for abandoning cable-news were as much justified now as they were then.

My TV-news comes from PBS, BBC, CSPAN, or CBS. That's it. -- Well... I do watch the Today Show in the morning, but that's not really news-news, it's fluff-news and headline-reading.

BUT THAT'S IT! I'm cable-news free again. --- At least until the convention.

-- Allen

[New Dem]

8. how about abc?

I prefer ABC news - i find peter jennings and ted koppel - easier to deal with than the rest.

[physioex]

14. I llike Peter Jennings too....

But really DU is a great place to get your news LBN fourm has all the latest news. It's like the people here at DU are investigative reporters....

[w13rd0]

2. the corpowhore media...

...needs to suffer the same fate of any "person" that would behave in the fashion that they have. they need to be tried and convicted for treason and dereliction of duty.

[saracat]

3. But until then,write.

It is still a cash cow and if their consumer ratings are seen to effect advertiser dollars, they will pay attenttion. But we must be consistent and continually protest their treason.

[neverborn]

4. Hi, freedom of speech?

[jukes]

5. neverborn

o/c, they have freedom of speech. they also have an ethical obligation, as a news agency, to report events impartially & w/o bias, UNLESS they clearly label it as editorial comment.


no one wants to shut them up, we just want them to observe appropriate protocol & stop slanting their reports to toady up to an oppressive regime.


1st amendments rights apply to *government* censorship only, not to consumer disgust. please don't misuse catchphrases, it's poor, & uneducated, debating technique.

[neverborn]

22. What's the difference between

you guys saying FOX NEWS should be convicted of treason and the Repubs saying Michael Moore should be convicted of treason?

[w13rd0]

16. Freedom of Speech?

Sorry, but when "Freedom of Speech" means that the corpowhores control access to information, and as a direct result, SUPRESS the expression of views that might dissent from the administration and their corporate pimpmasters, that's not "Freedom". Freedom may not be free, but that is too high a price for we the people to pay.

[booksenkatz]

6. I abhor editorializing

I hate it in the newsanchor, I even hate it in the weather person. Just report the news or weather, I don't want your opinion! Eyerolling, smirking, laughing, snide comments, using it as a launchpad for lame jokes... I don't even like the weather person to tell me that rain is a terrible thing and that my day will be ruined because of it. I'm a gardener, and most of the time, my garden welcomes rain. So Cheney off.

Because of the pervasive editorializing in American "news"casts, I don't watch TV "news" any longer, unless it's the BBC on PBS. Thank God I can get all the news I need here at DU's LBN, and can scroll through the commentary or not... it's my choice.

[teryang]

9. Why watch television news?

Just turn it off.

[UTUSN]

10. Complain about Chucky ZAHN --------Again?

Been there, done that. Sent e-mails to various CNN departments over her Poppy-flyboy crap being re-run umpteenth times. What did it get me, at least another showing AFTER my e-mails. I demand my e-mails be heeded!

[Batgirl]

15. good LORD

the resemblance is spooky, especially around the eyes -- but Chucky sorta looks like Rush too -- maybe he is the product of some enchanted evening of rightwing loooove?

[spanone]

11. Paula 'glam-news' Zahn isn't worth the effort. They parade her and

folks like Carol Lin as journalists and at best they are 3rd rate entertainers. Turn the channel.

[Shopaholic]

12. The only cable news show I watch anymore is Countdown

With Keith Olbermann. He actually understands that journalists are supposed to be fair. God, what a concept!

[KharmaTrain]

13. Ignoring Is What Rovians Want

Yep...turn it off, ignore it, hide from it...it'll go away, right? This was the mindset that allowed hate radio to grow and the right-wing tilt of the media.

It's so predictable...someone here will bitch about CNN or Faux and there'll be a dozen "turn it off" or "I don't watch TV" posts. That doesn't address the point the poster makes. Ignoring Zahn's spins and deceits means those who do watch and aren't that keen to it just nod their heads and assume the lies to be truths and those who are framed as bad (such as Panetta) to be as such.

We're in a massive propaganda war right now, with the right wing and it's powerful media allies pulling out all the stops to slam down Kerry and then build up Bunnypants. This is done through the spreading of lies and disinformation that then is assumed as fact by enough people who vote that it affects the outcome of the election...or what Rove hopes. Or the nastiness of the discourse turns off enough people that the only ones who are paying attention and voting are the ones he's energized. Yep, ignoring these shows plays right the things those who "turn it off" bitch about.

I write letters...futilly...but also I use my pocketbook...and let those who are affected by it know it. Yep, it's also the ratings things as well and "turning it off"...could mean turning off a TV set hooked up to a cable box that is being monitored...and honestly, between the evils of O'Hatred on Faux or Zahn, I'd take Zahn (personally I'm watching Obermann at that time).

This Berger situation is very well documented here, and I hope there's someone whose got the Limbaugh show tape where the lies about shoving documents down his socks start, and then we can spin the web for the rest of the day...adding what Zahn has piled on to the lies and distortions. This is what we should be doing.

Cheers

[calimary]

19. EVERYBODY READ IMRadioactive's post again, and memorize it.

There'll be a quiz on the First Tuesday of November.

It no longer does any good merely to "turn it off," whatever "it" is. You have to go one step further. If indeed you are motivated to turn it off, you MUST let that station, network, cable outlet, whatever, know that you are disconnecting, AND WHY. Otherwise you'll be one of those trees that falls in the forest and nobody's there to hear it, so then - did that tree really even exist? Or will anybody give a damn?

They won't care if they don't know. And they're NOT mind-readers.

WRITE LETTERS. PAPER LETTERS ARE BEST. SEND FAXES. PHONE THEM AND COMPLAIN! REALLY! Email if you feel the need.

CNN Thumbnail-Sketch Info:

CNN Comment Line: (404) 827 - 0234 Press 8 after you connect, so you don't have to waste time or money listening to the whole message. During regular business hours, you'll be put through to a human.

CNN News Chief Eason Jordan - Phone: [phone]. FAX: (404) 827 - 4215
[e-mail]

Paula "Monica" Zahn:
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

CNN General, Atlanta - (404) 827 – 1500 (thank you, DUer grasswire!)
CNN NEWS DIRECTOR Kim Bondy. [phone]. fax. [phone]
CNN NEWSROOM [phone] . [phone]. [e-mail]
CNN Washington: [phone]
CNN New York: [phone]


CNN TV: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/cnntv /

CNN.com: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/dotcom /

And don't forget what CNN's OWN Paul Begala recommends...

"IF YOU REALLY WANT TO DO SOMETHING...make a phone call or send a paper letter. E-mails are quick and cheap and don't carry the weight of a phone call or a PAPER LETTER. Paul Begala says a hundred paper letters would change the direction of a news program." – DUer grasswire, 5/20/04

As always, IF THEY THINK YOU DON'T CARE, THEY WON'T, EITHER!!

[calimary]

21. By the way...just freshly updated Activists Resource Thread HERE:

I can find it most easily in the Activism/Events forum, so I update THERE.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=106x8816 - as of July 21, 2004.

[KharmaTrain]

23. Thanks, Mary

I have suggestion to this list as well, but seems like you folks are getting this together nicely.

We really need to document in a more concise way the spinning to goes on...create a source/timeline "trail" that shows how this system works. I can trace it from the morning shows (Washington Journal, Today) through hate radio in the middays to local hate talk in the afternoons back to the network news at night and then onto the pundit spin shows that just cement the lie once and for all.

I found it somewhat amusing today to see David Gergen valiantly defend Berger (I admire both men greatly) and each time he had to face yet another Repugnican aparatchik (sp??) with the spin points hammered in his/her head and the lies already assumed to be truths. Or when confronted with the lie head on (in this case the stuffing down pants...purely Limbaugh)...then it was "let's let the investigation" play out.

Honestly, if this machine is really exposed, it'll do a lot to take down a lot of people...as without a coordinated "spin control", the lies can't congeal and the deceptions will end.

Cheers

[sendero]

24. I agree...

.... you can turn it off, but MILLIONS of Americans are watching it and believing every word.

Until we get the media under control, there will be no change in this country.

[mitchum]

17. Why, so they can beat her with a clothes hanger?

[Romulus]

18. You can try

I wrote to CNN about her disgraceful behavior during an interview with Rich "Punk Ass" Lowry and Julienne Malveaux on the Ashcroft nomination back in 2002.

All I got was a form e-mail thanking me for my "concern" and letting me know that it would be forwarded to the proper producers. :eyes:

[calimary]

20. Doesn't matter. At least you gave a damn enough to send an email.

KUDOS for your effort!

To make your voice a little louder and stronger: SEND A PAPER LETTER - OR POSTCARD. Note my post just above (#19), for Paul Begala's own reminder about the written word - IN the HIGHLY irrefutable BLACK AND WHITE.

I'd suggest, in order of magnitude/impact:

1) Paper letter or postcard
2) Phone call
3) Fax
4) Email

Phoning and Faxing may be interchangeable. Faxing is a challenge simply because sometimes the fax machine is just plain ol' busy. Remember kkkarl rove's "blastfax" strategy.

But if you send them something that they can hold in their hand to read, or wave about in the newsroom in front of other people, or make Xerox copies of, or post up on the bulliten board in the coffee and/or mail room, you're apt to reach more people than just your intended addressee, and there is a greater chance they'll actually read it. Keep it short. They'll naturally be able to take in two or three paragraphs with lots of "air" around them on the page - makes it look quick-n-easy to read at a glance. Unfortunately, emails often go into a big electronic catch-all bin - merely counted as a "negative" or "positive" comment, or perhaps, lumped into a no-detail, no-frills overall tally of comments pro or con on a specific issue, where your specific statements are not seen and only the gist of your email is noted.