Danny Schechter (Common Dreams): CNN at 25

[Jack Rabbit]

From Common Dreams
Dated Wednesday June 1

CNN At 25: "The World's Most Trusted Network"
by Danny Schechter

CNN went on the air twenty five years ago this June 1 from the basement of what had been the a Jewish country club in Atlanta, The UN flag was flying overhead as Ted Turner proclaimed his cable revolution with the announcement that the channel that the big broadcasters then dismissed as the Chicken Noodle Network would stay on the air until the end of the world, fully report its demise and then play "Near my God to Thee" as was done on the deck of the titanic.

The "mouth from the South" who would become a media mogul is now writing articles on the dangers of big media (penned by PBS's Pat Mitchell, a prominent "Turner turnover" who is herself on the way out). He spared no adjective as a one man hype machine for the promise of a new global news order. He was audacious, bold, and charismatic but the institution that is his legacy is anything but.

It has become a bland brand, more packaged than passionate with its prime competitor and arch-enemy Fox News the new innovator and home of controversy. CNN as "rebel" has been trumped by Fox as renegade.

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[omega minimo]

1. Danny's brilliant

Thanks for posting this.