(WMR)—A former top anchor for CNN related an interesting story to this editor recently about how far CNN has sunk as an international news network.
On a recent visit to CNN headquarters in Atlanta, CNN founder Ted Turner was spotted by a number of CNN employees. The employees began shouting across the CNN atriumm “Ted, come back and save CNN!” Turner shouted back, “It’s too fucking late!”
Turner founded CNN in 1980 as the first 24-hour news channel on cable television.
CNN’s downfall began in 1996, when it merged with Time Warner with Time Warner chairman Gerald Levin as the CEO of the merged firm. Turner was stripped of his position as the head of CNN’s cable channels but remained as vice chairman of Time Warner. In January 2001, AOL bought Time Warner/CNN but the collapse of the dot coms saw AOL Time Warner’s stock plunge in value. In late 2001, Turner raged against Levin and in 2002 Turner resigned from AOL Time Warner and was replaced by Rockefeller family majordomo Richard Parsons.
CNN transformed Headline News into “HLN,” a trash news/tabloid format channel. The network also took on a decidedly pro-Israel line with former American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) spokesman Wolf Blitzer calling the shots in Washington as CNN’s Washington bureau chief. CNN’s Middle East bureau chief Octavia Nasr and anchor Rick Sanchez were fired over comments construed as anti-Israel, in the case of Nasr, or anti-Jewish, in the case of Sanchez. The marriage of CNN’s John King and Dana Bash, followed by King’s conversion to Judaism (Bash’s religion) further called into question the roles that nepotism and religion play at the network.
CNN’s bias also is evident in continuing the Sunday program Reliable Sources with Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz. Kurtz’s wife, Shari Annis, is a Republican Party operative who often appears on MS-NBC. CNN also continues to employ Rupert Murdoch scandal-plagued Piers Morgan as the replacement for Larry King. Anderson Cooper, the son of billionaire heiress Gloria Vanderbilt and who once worked as an intern for the CIA, hosts Anderson Cooper 360° and a daytime talk show, Anderson. The latter recently featured the subject of women who serve their own placentas for dinner.
WMR also learned from a former CNN employee that a female CNN producer was hosted at a secret meeting at the Israeli embassy in Washington on the eve of the 9/11 attack. Talking points were conveyed by senior embassy employees on how the invited media representatives should handle the events that were to transpire the following day.
CNN has been accused by critics of trying to outdo Fox News in slanting its coverage to appease the Republican Party and neo-conservatives.
Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.
Copyright © 2012 WayneMadenReport.com
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).
