Welcome CNN
(Link Added, per VT Woody)
Nice of you to join the reality based community now that you have no viewers. From CNN’s Shannon Travis:
Here’s what you often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: offensive posters blasting President Obama and Democratic leaders; racist rhetoric spewed from what seems to be a largely white, male audience; and angry protesters rallying around the Constitution….
But here’s what you don’t often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: Patriotic signs professing a love for country; mothers and fathers with their children; African-Americans proudly participating; and senior citizens bopping to a hip-hop rapper.
Last week, I saw all of this during a five-city Western swing as the Tea Party Express national tour made its way across the country. CNN was along for the ride, and I was charged with planning CNN’s coverage for five stops in two states: St. George, Provo and Salt Lake City, Utah; and Grand Junction and Denver, Colorado.
This latest Tea Party caravan kicked off on March 27 in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s hometown of Searchlight, Nevada. It is scheduled to make 45 stops before rolling into Washington on April 15, not so coincidentally on “Tax Day.”
Together, we beamed out images of the anger and the optimism, profiled African-Americans who are proud to be in the Tea Party’s minority and showed activists stirred by “God Bless America” or amused by a young rapper who strung together rhymes against the president and Democrats.
The CNN Express traveled with the Tea Party Express buses for hundreds of miles, from rally to rally to rally.
Being at a Tea Party rally is not quite like seeing it on TV, in newspapers or online. That’s the reason CNN is covering this political movement — and doing so in ways few others can or choose to do.
It is important to show the colorful anger Americans might have against elected leaders and Washington. But people should also see the orange-vested Tea Party hospitality handlers who welcome you with colorful smiles.
There were a few signs that could be seen as offensive to African-Americans. But by and large, no one I spoke with or I heard from on stage said anything that was approaching racist.
Almost everyone I met was welcoming to this African-American television news producer.
And though speakers railed against the “lame-stream media,” activists and their leaders praised CNN, especially for being the only national media outlet riding along for the post-weekend stops. Some of them e-mailed me after my trip, thanking our crew for fairly giving them a voice.
Let me be the first to say: No shit.
You guys would have seen this all along if you hadn’t been so openly antagonistic. I won’t go to a tea party event only because I live under a bridge and hate crowds, but even I knew that an open-minded person would find just this type of reception at these events. I have news for you, contrary to being a bunch of kooks, the Tea Partiers are nothing more or less than your neighbors.
Category: Politics
And to the horror of some libs and dems, Tea Partiers are also their brothers, sisters, moms and dads.
Stop over and have a look at Charles Johnson’s post at LGF last night: Tea Partiers, Circa 1950
I don’t think I need to provide a link, but go have a look.
What a first-rate piece of sh!t that jackass turned out to be.
It’s nice to see a piece of fair reporting coming from CNN but I don’t think that they are being particularly altruistic about it. I suspect that the powers that be are seeing that they (and and their sistership Headline News Network) are so far behind Fox (consistantly garners more then half the cable news viewers) that the only way they are going to survive is to actually report the news in an unbiased way. This is not to be confused with shows like Hannity, O’Reilly, Oberman et al which are commentary shows but to have shows more in the vein of Fox News Sunday (which Dems clammer to get on because they know that while there will be tough questions they are always given a chance to fully respond and are treated with respect). Unless they make some changes in this vein the revenue will just continue to dry up until they close up (or get sold back to Ted Turner).
“Here’s what you often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: offensive posters blasting President Obama and Democratic leaders; racist rhetoric spewed from what seems to be a largely white, male audience” — True to form, leading with a negative picture no matter how false. Does CNN anywhere say these claims are not true? No; simply that there are other, less bad things to see as well.
Not exactly “mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa” on CNN’s part.
So, should I bow down to Shannon, er what? Seriously? Had any of these people really given a Rat’s ass they would have taken the time to report what happened in Sept. You know, those *twenty thousand* people that showed up *would* gladly have shown her the niceties, but so intent were they to belittle and name call and report no truth, that for this Tea Party attendee- thanks, but no thanks.
I’ll keep my signs and you keep pretending that it could have been difficult or offensive for you, a black news producer, showing the colorful anger out there. Jesus.
This shows how absolutely hard-up CNN is for viewers — they are actually making some halfassed effort at showing both sides of a story in a reasoned and relatively intelligent manner. Kind of what NEWS IS SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE. This after they found out their opinion is of no interest except to the approximately 25 percent of the American public which is composed of mindless leftist Obots.
And I am willing to bet they think they have stumbled upon something new and innovative here too. For them it probably is though. They have never done it before.