Anyone who thinks Aaron Brom is a friend of the left, read this e-mail

[John_H]

exchange.

During the Iowa Caucus coverage Brown ran a story about a few Dems who were voting rethug. Here's the ensuing e-mail exchange between Aaron and me.

-----Original Message-----
From: John_H
To: [e-mail] <[e-mail]>
Sent: Sun Jan 18 23:49:57 2004
Subject: Bush voting Democrats and wacky notions of "balance"

Aaron,

Since the hilariously transparent Bush-cheerleading piece you slipped into tonight's coverage of the Iowa Caucuses was so entertaining, I'm curious whether or not you'll soon be doing a story on a Republican who plans to vote Democratic this November.


May I reccomend airing that story during your coverage of the president's State of the Union speech to similarly "balance" the coverage?

Aaron Replied:

Huh. You don't accept the premise of the piece? You don't believe the D's have this huge Southern problem? Wow

-----Original Message-----
From: John_H
To: Brown, Aaron (NY-TBS) <[e-mail]>
Sent: Mon Jan 19 17:23:40 2004
Subject: Re: Bush voting Democrats and wacky notions of "balance"

Sure, Aaron, I accept the premise of the story as I'm sure you accept the premise that the president's agenda has alienated more than a few moderate Republicans. I'd be happy to introduce your producers to a few dozen in case they can't find any.


Aaron Replied:

Huh. You don't accept the premise of the piece? You don't believe the D's have this huge Southern problem? Wow
.
If there is a real story about a split in the party we will absolutely. This is not about one guy or a few people. It is about a trend in american politics. That was the premise and I don't see that trend on the other side yet and I suspect you don't either. But if it is there it will be done

--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld (www.BlackBerry.net)


The other day, I followed up:

During the Iowa caucuses we had an email exchange in which I complained about a piece you did about a Democrat who planned at the time to vote for Bush.

You replied: “Huh. You don't accept the premise of the piece? You don't believe the D's have this huge Southern problem? Wow…This is not about one guy or a few people. It is about a trend in American politics. That was the premise and I don't see that trend on the other side yet and I suspect you don't either. But if it is there it will be done”

Since News Night hasn’t done a piece on that subject, I assume you haven’t seen any of the many “real” stories, such as the following Reuters and New York Times pieces: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=5831134&src=rss/ElectionCoverage

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40715FF3D580C718EDDAB0894DC404482

Did you miss the before-the-end-of-the-convention Zogby poll which shows Dems ahead by 2 in the South? Tough to do that without GOP votes. Even Lunz’s MSNBC focus group contained a number of Republicans planning to vote for Kerry.

During the Democratic Convention CNN demonstrated its untiring quest for “balance” by providing more than equal time (proved beyond any doubt by Media Matters and the Columbia Journalism Review) to the GOP and its talking-points. Since you undoubtedly want to be fair to both parties—and since I always take people at their word--I look forward to your story about all those Republicans planning to vote for Kerry.

Please let me know when it’s going to run and I’ll be sure to tune back in to CNN to watch it. Sadly, I suspect that CNN will continue its drift toward “fair and balanced” all-terror-all-the-time coverage without me


Aron's response? Nada. Think we'll ever see that story he promised?

[Connie_Corleone]

1. I don't think he's a friend of the left.

I think he's one of the few fair journalists left.

[Dookus]

2. exactly

what I was about to post.

[Ms. Clio]

3. You should edit your subject line to "Brown"

So people will know who you are talking about.

I don't watch CNN, however, so I can't comment otherwise.

[Jacobin]

4. Brown is a repuke shill and always has been

On occasion he will gently question the junta and then slap himself for doing so.

[Bush was AWOL]

5. Brown is not bad

He is clearly against the war.

And atleast he keeps people up to date on the casualties.

[Shopaholic]

7. He's not a complete whore--

but he has his moments. Of course, sometimes he has good moments. For CNN, he's not bad.

[Bush was AWOL]

8. I don't see how you can claim he is a whore for the Bush admin

when he sheds a very bad light on war. I'd say he's left leaning, but the whores that run CNN will only allow him to go so far. I'm sure Rep. can't stand the portion of the show when he shows the casualties and the age of the young boys dying with that sad music in the background.

[Catt03]

6. well....he writes back at least

I have corresponded with him over the years and he almost always responds. At least the email comes from his Blackberry.

He is very sensitive to critical feedback about his show, the content and choices. He gets very burly about it. I finally gave up as he seemed to be yelling all the time.

I still like him though. Just don't write to him anymore.

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

9. He is completely full of himself.

I had an email exchange with him once too, but he appeared to be a very narrow-minded and smug person. I was civil and polite and had a good point like you did, but he talked down to me the same way he did to you.