Say It Ain't So Already

The NYT Claims CNN’s Reporting is “Middle Road.” What?

April 28, 2009 at 2:48 PM Leave a comment

On Sunday the New York Times ran an article written by Bill Carter titled, With Rivals Ahead, Doubts for CNN’s Middle Road.  In it, Carter claims that CNN’s strategy of late has been, “to steer the middle course in its news coverage.”  Still,

Since the beginning of March, CNN has fallen behind both the longtime ratings leader, Fox News Channel, which, as the voice of disaffected conservatives, again has an imposing lead, and the upstart MSNBC, which has tried to mirror Fox’s success by steering to the left.

First of all, what’s “middle course” news coverage?  The “news” CNN reports is essentially the same as that covered by Fox and MSNBC — typically the same four or five stories that the three of them sit on and repeat all day long.

What distinguishes the cable “news” outlets is their slant; their spin.  Fox is obviously conservative.  MSNBC is leaning left, but it runs the gamut from Scarborough and Buchanan to Olbermann and Maddow.  CNN is most decidedly slanting right, not going down the “middle course.”  Name one liberal over there.  Jack Cafferty, sometimes.  Name one conservative.  Lou Dobbs, Mary Matlin, Dana Milbank, David Brody and Fran Townsend come to mind.  CNN’s problem is that it has been trying to grab the conservative viewer, but conservatives are already loyal to Fox, so trying to mine that audience is a waste of time.  Conversely, progressives tend to watch CNN, but as CNN becomes more conservative, they are gravitating toward MSNBC.  In the end, CNN is the loser.

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