The whole idea that “CNN has tried to remain non-partisan” is such a farce that it’s not to be taken seriously. When has CNN ever been accused of being down the middle? They’ve been a left-wing outlet since inception. Just because they’re not crazy, wingnut left like MSNBC, doesn’t make them “non-partisan”. What a freaking joke. I can’t think of a single anchor of theirs that didn’t vote for Obama. The fact that media people continually say CNN is “non-partisan” just goes to show how left-wing and out of touch those people are. Absurd.

Well said. I tend to believe that the MSM’s attempt to try to define CNN as “non partisan” is more an attempt to attack Fox News than it is to paint legitimacy to CNN. Viewers aren’t stupid…even those who weren’t around in the 90s can see CNN’s bias today simply by observing how CNN covered the Tea Party rallies…

The irony is, MSM tries Sooooo hard to ONLY define CNN as legitimate (or FoxNews as illegitimate); it’s almost as if they’ve acknowledged that ALL OTHER NEWS NETWORK are bias. Of course, they would never state such acknowledgement…

When FOX came along it acted as a wake up call to all of us. The liberal news bias wasn’t apparent or even mentioned until we had something else to compare them to. I put the tv on the news mix channel and watch them all at once. I need to see what everyone is saying to develope my picture of the news..Oh, and of course, come to Mediaite to read how angry kid-beating congressmen can be construed as being heroic.

Ranger:
I think you’re a little off in your analysis. FNC came about precisely because the MSM so heavily tilted to the left. Most people I know had become so disenchanted with the MSM prior to FNC that they/we had either turned it off or cut our consumption.

Sadly, I think the premise is true. CNN is demonstrably less partisan, less ideological than FOX or MSNBC, and it is less dependent upon advocacy journalism and sensationalism. To be sure, CNN is not ideologically free, but it is much closer to the objectivity model than the others. This will likely change over time. The FOX shtick and the MSNBC shtick are likely short-lived. We are too sensible a people to have it otherwise. At least, I hope.

Point taken Lonestar..guess what I meant was we couldn’t see the degree in which we had been lied to until FOX came along to balance things out (a little).

As one of the journalists who joined CNN in its first year, as Rome bureau chief and later Washington correspondent, I know that all of us CNNers have tried to be as objective as is humanly possible. At no time during my 16 years at CNN did I see anybody (myself included) try to impose any bias on a story. We tried to be nonpartisan and fact-based, and felt that all-news cable was a public service that would help the public be better informed about the world. That dedication to the ideal was felt this past Saturday at CNN’s emotional 30th anniversary reunion in DC, as I wrote about in my blog, capturingthenews.com.

Thank you, Mr. Collings.

If you are a hard-core conservative, of course CNN is biased. Anything to the left of hard right will be biased to you. People see what they want to see. If you want to believe that CNN has a liberal bias, you watch it looking to have that confirmed. I find CNN the most tolerable of the three because they don’t have as many overtly political talking heads as the other two. MSNBC and FNC are only useful if you want what you already believe confirmed.

MSNBC and FNC are only useful if you want what you already believe confirmed.

—

Therein is found great wisdom, Paul.

CNN’s problem is that they’ve drifted away from being a serious news network and most of their content has become rather dumb. Their ratings are down because they only have 2-3 hours a day of serious news, and the rest of the time it feels like you’re watching the E channel.

Let’s just wait for Blacks in America 12..very insiteful. No pandering to anyone there, give me a break. Ever heard Ted Turner speak? His ideology never bled into the networks choices? I will always admire him for bring us CNN and winning back the Americas’ Cup, but he leans a little left..

@Paul and TRRK

That’s the confirmation bias. Unfortunately, it’s how our brains have evolved to help us make faster, albeit less accurate, decisions. All we can do is acknowledge that it is part of our cognition and work to overcome it. Constant exposure to convergent thinking narrows thought and leads to group think, while exposure to divergent thought leads to more creative and nuanced thinking.

CNN has always been objective? Good gawd. I understand that someone who worked there for 16 years is proud of the company but to pretend that CNN didn’t lean (pretty heavily) left is beyond absurd. Study after study, poll after poll show that a) MSM’ers vote heavily dem, b) the viewing public views CNN as left-wing. It’s no surprise that most people who work there don’t see it because it’s all they know. Wash/NY elitists live in a bubble. They are closed off. They’re about as diverse as a Klan rally. Gimme a freaking break. CNN, objective…lololololololol

The most indisputable proof that CNN has always been left-wing is that the angry-left has always supported it and rarely ever complained about it. What else HASN’T the left complained about? If they’re okay with CNN, that tells you all you need to know.

On a side note, I asked my Dad a few years back why he tortured himself for years by watching CNN. His response…there wasn’t any other option.

That’s not exactly what I would call “indisputable proof.” More like one person’s unprovable opinion.

Yeah, Ranger, if ol’ Ted leaned any further left, he’d topple over. He’s not just left, he’s radical left…but of course, that didn’t bleed into the hiring of talent or the coverage…Especially not when Bill Clinton’s lontime bff, Rick Kaplan, was Pres. of CNN. It was known as the Clinton News Network for a reason.

@lonestar77: As a general rule, one could argue that reporters (not anchors or pundits) likely lean left to a greater degree than the general population because their job is to ask questions and to question authority. I’ll even go as far as to say that if you could come up with some kind of “Implicit Test“*, even the non-political reporters from Fox News would fall into this category.

*Note: I’ve written more than a few times over the years that I question the validity of the “Implicit Tests”. Though I have to say that I haven’t taken one in at least a year or two and since they’re always evolving…

CNN’s remaining strengths is that when there is a big news story, the non-news people will turn in. They also have better global resources.

Magister Magister says:
June 15, 2010 at 2:57 pm

@lonestar77: As a general rule, one could argue that reporters (not anchors or pundits) likely lean left to a greater degree than the general population because their job is to ask questions and to question authority.

.
I have heard this rationale used in the context of “therefore they are naturally and correctly political liberals. Is that your contention here?