CNN signed on 30 years ago today.

[alp227]

On June 1, 1980, the Cable News Network first broadcast. Media mogul Ted Turner founded the channel.

In its early days, CNN was a groundbreaking idea: a 24-hour, 7-days-a-week live news network. When a major event happened, CNN was there on the spot.

Unfortunately, in its later years, CNN began degrading, and a lot of anti-CNN sentiment has spread across DU and other forums. Why? CNN is sinking to Fox News's levels to catch up with the top-rated news network on cable (I doubt that Fox News can even be categorized as news!)
- Lou Dobbs, who embraces conspiracy theories about Obama's citizenship and bashes illegal immigrants, had a primetime show on CNN until recently.
- Erick Erickson, a vitriol-spewing conservative blogger from RedState.com, was hired this year to be a political commentator on a CNN talk show. Erickson has joked about shooting census workers; a woman in Yuba City, Calif. was shot and killed by police for refusing to put down her gun that she aimed towards one census worker.
- Ryan Sorba, an anti-gay activist who's writing a book The Born Gay Hoax, tweeted last month that he might appear on a CNN documentary about conservative activists tentatively to be broadcast in October 2010. CNN's idea of "balance" is equating an ignorant, misguided homophobe with a loving gay couple, as CNN plans to broadcast a documentary titled Gary and Tony Have a Baby about a gay couple who wants who start a family.
- Another example of misguided balance by CNN: putting the academically disqualified ex-gay advocate Richard A. Cohen as a counterweight against California Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal, who proposed dropping homosexuality from a state list of sexual deviancies. (Yes, seriously, California's had a law to cure homosexuality since 1950!!!!) Phillips never addressed the fact that the American Counseling Association expelled Cohen for ethics violations. (official transcript is here)
- Don't forget that the paranoid, overtly cynical, racist, fearmongering Glenn Beck began his trash TV show on CNN's Headline News channel in 2006 before moving to Fox News last year!
- In March, one chyron on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer read "Department of Jihad?" The report covered "an ad by Liz Cheney that suggests that because the DOJ hired lawyers who have represented accused terrorists, the department is sympathetic to terrorists." (Specifically the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial controversy) Blitzer later apologized for that text.
- If you're wondering why so many Americans believed that Iraq had a role in 9/11 or don't know the dirty truth about Bush, you can blame CNN's excessive coverage (along with the other clueless American news orgs) of celebrity tragedies including these familiar names: Natalee Holloway, Chandra Levy, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, and Lindsay Lohan! Seldom would you ever hear about the Downing Street memo, which weakened Bush's case for war in Iraq.

Sadly, a once-promising CNN has sunken to a less-than-pleasing level thanks to corporate and political pressures. Luckily, alternate news sources like DU, blogs, Democracy Now, and MSNBC's primetime lineup flourish thanks to the 1st Amendment.

Please share any other examples of how CNN has degraded, improved, or stayed the same since June 1, 1980.

[Echo In Light]

1. Hard to imagine why US elites would want 24/7 spewing of lies, mis- and dis-info

A real head scratcher, to be sure ;)

[Radical Activist]

2. How the mighty have fallen.

It has dumbed down to triviality and garbage. Wolf Blitzer is an embarrassment.

I'll never find a link for it, but I'm reminded of an early Democratic debate in the last Presidential primary. They were taking questions from the audience. I saw several times that audience members asked intelligent, thoughtful questions. Then Blitzer would dumb it down to a soundbite question that better fit into the current media narrative.

The public was ready to have a serious debate. The candidates were ready for serious discussion. It was Blitzer and CNN who stood in the way, preventing a meaningful discussion of the issues. That's typical of their news coverage every day of the year. Serious discussion of issues people want to hear about are pushed aside to make room for soundbites and topics that don't threaten the financial interests of their corporate owners.

Corporate news is the problem. Turn it off.

[charlie]

3. Crossfire

Which created the mold for pitting firebrand conservatives against tepid, ineffectual, non-ideological "liberals." The original pair was Pat Buchanan vs the doddering, mushmouthed (and ex-CIA!) Tom Braden.

[Radical Activist]

4. If you've ever seen The Man from Plains.

There's a great scene where Wolf Blitzer interviews Jimmy Carter. Blitzer made an opening statement when Carter came on the show. Carter then proceeded to correct four factual errors Blitzer made in that single sentence.

Blitzer had to shut up and be corrected because a former President is given the respect of being allowed to finish his sentences, unlike most guests on CNN. I only wish Blitzer were forced to sit there quietly and be corrected every time he lies to his audience. It would probably take up too much air time.

[Radical Activist]

5. They were too obsessed with Monica to cover Clinton's attempt to kill bin-Laden.

The media widely speculated that it was nothing but a distraction from the scandal. CNN in particular was all-Monica, all the time. It was the ultimate triumph of speculative sensationalism over meaningful news coverage. When Bush abused the power of his office in real scandals, they gave it little attention.

[Radical Activist]

6. Breaking away from the State of the Union address to cover the results of OJ's civil trial.

That was the entire media but it was just pathetically shameful. It's the only speech mandated by the Constitution.

[uponit7771]

7. Stewart warned them many years ago and they got worse

[Blue Owl]

8. Thanks for the propaganda, fuckers

n/t

[Whisp]

9. Wolf Blitzer in a cameo

around the start of the Iraq war. He was donned in camou looking garb, tan or olive green, can't recall. Outdoors and camera shot was from below so we look up to the great and bristled Wolf, the alpha journalist so full of himself in his wondrous wonder of dominance.

outdoors against a clear sky,
and the music in the background was Against The Wind= the Seeger one.

I suppose he was showing his integrity and journalistic purity by going against the flow (ahahaha!) and against the wind of... something.

But he was not one to question Bush at all in the lies to the invasion of Iraq. He was a pathetic little fucker like all the other liars on the other cable and network news shows.

fuck you Wolf, you soul-ugly lieing bastard.

[Yavin4]

10. Here's The Truly Sad Part

For the younger DUers, when Reagan was president, the national news media was heavily criticized for allowing him to walk all over them with these Mike Deaver photo-ops and sound bites. In their defense, Don Hewitt, the late 60 minutes creator, stated that the networks didn't have enough time to truly cover the issues. Back then, they only had a half hour each day for the news.

Today, we have a ton of 24 hour news, and the coverage has gotten much, much worse.

[closeupready]

11. Yep, I remember it.

n/t

[nichomachus]

12. Corporatist News Network -- 'nuf said

[hvn_nbr_2]

13. "The most trusted name in Faux imitators." nt

[givemebackmycountry]

14. Remember back when right wingers referred to CNN as the "Clinton News Network"?

Or the "Commie News Network"?

I do.

They thought CNN was too "liberal".

Stupid then, stupid now.

[Echo In Light]

15. As David Icke refers to them, "The Movie Channel." lol

[TheWatcher]

16. If they would Sign Off, Today, the World would be a better place almost immediately.