Renz

Say It Ain't So, Ted Turner

By: Bill O'Reilly for BillOReilly.com

Thursday, Sep 09, 2004

So now we find out that CNN commentators James Carville and Paul Begala have signed on with the Kerry campaign as unpaid advisors. Traditionally, that would mean they would have to take a leave of absence from CNN or any news organization which employed them because journalistic ethics (oxymoron?) dictate that news organizations remain totally separate from political campaigns. But since we live in strange times, CNN says it will keep the guys on the air.

In the wake of the vicious attacks on Fox News for allegedly being "GOP TV," I expected the media to brutally dismember CNN and the new boys on John Kerry's bus. But instead it's been the silence of the lambs from the press. Can you say media bias?

A central thesis of the mainstream media is that Fox News caters to conservative Republicans. That thesis has been played out in newspaper articles, books and even in movies. Those right-wing bully boys from Fox, they're just awful aren't they? How many times have we heard that?

But when it comes to CNN, well, that's another story. That network apparently feels comfortable allowing daily commentary from two Kerry strategists. Shouldn't CNN now be compelled to give equal time to the Bush campaign? How about a new program called "What's Up, George," starring Mary Matalin?

The CNN decision should come as no surprise since CNN's founder and still-involved mogul Ted Turner despises President Bush. Last July, Mr. Turner opined on The Charlie Rose program that "history will look back on this debacle in Iraq as one of the greatest mistakes that any major country has ever made."

Turner went on to say that the USA has no right to the high moral ground in Iraq when "we're terrorizing and sodomizing prisoners of war ..."

Keeping the press and political campaigns apart is what the founders had in mind when they granted us special first amendment privileges. Thomas Jefferson and the gang hoped the press would keep an eye on those seeking power--not try to help them obtain it. Editorial endorsements of candidates are fine and there's nothing wrong with former political operatives being hired to analyze the news. However, there is plenty wrong with CNN's present situation.

The fact that the media is allowing CNN to get away with this tells you all you need to know about how fair the American press is these days. I'll submit to you that if Greta Van Susteren and I signed on with Bush/Cheney 2004, The New York Times would have passed out torches and the media mob would have stormed the Fox News castle. There's a fox in the hen house all right--it's called the left-wing press allowing their brothers to slide.

Personally, I don't care if Carville and Begala want to help Kerry. And I don't care what they say on CNN. Everybody knows those guys are Kool-Aid liberals; they're not going to change many minds.

But I must say that CNN has some gall. It has consistently put itself up as the beacon of broadcast journalism and taken snarky shots at those it considers of lesser quality.

Well, the halcyon days at CNN have now come to an end. The network's ratings have collapsed and so have its ethical standards.

I don't know what's in your pipe, Ted Turner, but if there's room, put that assessment in there, and smoke it.

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40yearfan

Sometimes I don't like O'Reilly, but in this instance he is dead on. Hopefully enough people watch Fox that will pass this tid-bit on. It's just another example of do as I say, not as I do and the laws are made for everyone else, but we are above the law.

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Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternative.

NickelBack

He did fine work as a host on Inside Edition!

krepitch

Isn't that show a right vs. left talk show?

By the way, CNN is getting bashed regularly for its conservative bias these days. Maybe they're doing something right if both sides hate them.

NickelBack

It was the show he did before going to Fox...he claims to have won a Peabody Award for his work there!

krepitch

Sorry...poor posting skills on my part. I meant the CNN show. Isn't it Crossfire or something? Aren't they supposed to have viewpoints from both sides?

Of course, I wouldn't expect anyone at FOX to understand that concept. Maybe that's why Bill is so confused.

I remember O'Reilly at Inside Edition, though. I felt bad for him then. Sheesh. To think it could get worse than that.

Chaz

Great now Bill O'reilly thinks our rights, including those of the press, are derived from Thomas Jefferson and other dead white guys. Not only that but they are granted privileges instead of inherent rights. Well that is just great. I think "TJ and the rest of the gang" didn't expect the power of the federal government and the national presses' desire to be insider elites.

The rest of what he says I mostly agree with. But if CNN is upfront about those guys being part of the Kerry campain and partisan participants and does not present them as unbiased observers then who really cares?

He is right about Fox and the Bush campain. If they had employed regular commentators that were advisors to the Bush campain the press would have several articles questioning the practice and some members of this board would be crying out loud.

Southpaw

Al Franken did a bang up job exposing O'Reilly on his supposed Peabody award, which never existed.

" Franken said O'Reilly claimed in a C-SPAN interview that the show he once anchored, Inside Edition, had won a Peabody award. It never did, but won a Polk award instead. O'Reilly was quoted on three other occasions making a similar claim, Franken alleged. "

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"I read the news today, oh boy"

SunCardfan

Why don't we stick to the point of the article...when one side seems wrong it's always yeah but...

NickelBack

Isn't Bill O'Reilly the point?

Renz

Is he? Of course, liberals and the executives at CNN would like to believe that.

Regardless of how anyone feels about O'Reilly he is right on three points:

1. Ted Turner hates George Bush

2. If O'Reilly or any other commentator at Fox News was actively consulting for the Bush campaign, they would be dismembered by the mainstream media (i.e. The New York Times, The LA Times etc.), but CNN gets a free pass.

3. CNN's claims of non-bias like,

"CNN, I think, is viewed as liberal because...we don't give a slant, we don't give a corporate slant to the journalism..." --Richard Parsons, Time Warner Chairman & CEO

is a joke.

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NickelBack

I've noticed that too, must be doing something right!

Southpaw

Ted turner hates Bush? Might have something to do with ex wife Jane Fonda. Not a tough choice for Ted. Sleep with Jane or Dybya?????

O'Reilly does not consult for, just with Rove. O'Reilly is a cheerleader.

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"I read the news today, oh boy"

Buseinspectrum

I don't watch TV, so I can only comment on the websites, which I check daily. I found CNN.com to be markedly more conservative than ABCNews.com both in its content about the Presidential election and in the way it seems to push the Bush Campaign stories first. Sometimes its as if Kerry isn't even on the campaign trail, so I have to go over to ABCNews.com to find out what's going on.

SirStefan32

People still watch CNN?

On a serious note, I don't have a problem with these two guys working for Kerry, just like I wouldn't have a problem with Tucker Carlson and Bob Novak (Conservatives from the "Crossfire) working for Bush. (They don't)

They just don't bother me- they are open about who they are, just as Hannity and Colmes are, or Carlson and Novak, etc.

However, I can not stand partisans who pretend to be objective reporters, such as Rather, Jennings, Blitzer, etc.

Stefan

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Cigarette Smoking Man