CNN: The #1 Name in News

I watched/viewed the Capstone Project on CNN. I found the layout of the group’s powerpoint nicely done and interesting, as it as screenshots directly from CNN’s websites. Yet, as I looked through the information I saw how narrow minded and assumptive the group’s project was. On the third slide they talk about how different country’s had different news and looks on their website – as if CNN wanted to segregate people, which I found to be a very extreme look at what CNN is doing. Obviously people within the same cultural and geographic borders will care about similar things, this is the basis of the first unit of CSCL 1001 – and not CNN’s somehow scheme to make Americans only look at American news, it’s just common sense.

Secondly, the group attempts to make the argument that because TBS, the corporation and collection of TV channels/networks that owns CNN, owns so many entertainment-based channels that they their news channel must be bias. The group failed to say how this would make the news bias (political, religious, sensationalist, etc), but obviously all television networks have the number one goal of entertaining people, even news networks, this is the basic assumption of television taught in any general level political science course. Certainly ANY network, or any media source from newspapers to radio, wants people to watch/enjoy/participate them, that’s a fair assumption. Then in the seventh slide the group assumes that CNN is liberal and Fox is conservative. If I was going to buy into this generalization I would think that MSNBC (or NBC in general) would be the more liberal network and CNN would be, perhaps, left-leaning politically. Yet they make the claim that CNN is centrist (as if most of the American population), which, in my mind, would make them “the most trusted name in news.”

Then, lastly, the group reiterates that CNN’s goal is to “give people what they want” and that CNN’s relationships “can definitely bring these claims [of honesty] to question.” I think that the group fails here to properly conclude the theme of their project: CNN, the media, and “news.” They fail to talk about CNN’s use of twitter during broadcasts, different programs, or even the reporters themselves – which make me question the legitimacy of their project. Like ALL television that people watch today CNN wants viewers, money, and acclaim, CNN is not biased in this way comparatively, at least no bias is shown by this particular project.

Eric R Best