TV Critic Slams CNN for Putting Van Jones in Ferguson; Jones Fires Back
One of the many CNN faces on the ground in Ferguson this week has been commentator Van Jones. He was in Ferguson on Monday night, and after being there into Tuesday morning, got into a much-noticed argument with Don Lemon. But Baltimore Sun TV critic David Zurawik took some serious issue with CNN putting Jones on the ground there. In a radio interview with NPR’s On the Media, Zurawik had this to say:
“Absolutely no credentials for this. One of the fiercest ideologues on cable television… He’s exactly the same kind of character that Karl Rove is for Fox. Why would you put him on the streets? It’s outrageous to put that guy out there on the streets. There’s kids in college studying journalism who are more equipped to be on the streets covering that story for CNN than he was.”
And Zurawik also wrote a piece on the Ferguson news coverage that honed in on Jones in particular. He said CNN made a “terrible decision” to put him on the air and called Jones “so far out of his depth and so far off in his assessment of the actual situation all night.”
He concluded that ideologues like Jones have no business being part of cable news coverage in cases like this.
Jones eventually got wind of what Zurawik had to say and shot back by touting his numerous credentials:
@davidzurawik /Hmm …Not sure u r worth responding to. Never heard of u before. Paltry # of followers & almost no RTs. Shallow analysis.
— Van Jones (@VanJones68) November 27, 2014
.@davidzurawik /What if CNN used a Yale-educated attorney who won 1998 Reebok International Human Rights Award for his work on police abuse?
— Van Jones (@VanJones68) November 27, 2014
.@davidzurawik /What if @CNN used expert whom @wef named "Young Global Leader" & brought to Davos 5X 4 police reform/crim justice expertise?
— Van Jones (@VanJones68) November 27, 2014
.@davidzurawik @CNN / You've heard of @wef, right? World Economic Forum? (Don't recall ever seeing YOU at Davos, but maybe I missed you.)
— Van Jones (@VanJones68) November 27, 2014
.@davidzurawik /What if @CNN used expert whom CA Bar Association LICENSED to run Bay Area lawyer referral service–on issue of police abuse?
— Van Jones (@VanJones68) November 27, 2014
.@davidzurawik / What if @cnn used an expert who had successfully helped to reform the SFPD, after a controversial police killing?
— Van Jones (@VanJones68) November 27, 2014
.@davidzurawik / Even if you disagreed with his comments, would you question his suitability to give a perspective? Just curious. @cnn
— Van Jones (@VanJones68) November 27, 2014
You can listen to the full NPR segment here (the comments about Jones start at the 12-minute mark):
[image via screengrab]
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