Question, please. Re: something I just saw on CNN.
Poppy Harlow is hosting this hour. Before the commercial break in the first quarter-hour, she teased an upcoming segment regarding Exxon/Mobil chief Rex Tillerson and his probable nomination for Secretary of State.
Then, they went to commercial. An Exxon/Mobil commercial touting how responsible they are to the interests of the planet. "And you thought we just made the gas."
And then, after the spot cluster ended, Poppy's back and intros the Tillerson discussion. Segment was about ten minutes long and kicked the whole idea around. She has actually done well today. I liked her probing of the CON-leaning columnists, trying to dig down into his obfuscating statements. Follow-up questions!
I'm beginning to wonder if there's an issue developing now, in the Conflict-of-Interest file. Should CNN be airing commercials from companies that pay them beaucoup bucks to advertise - when those same companies have extraordinarily strong ties to our government? Can CNN be counted on to report objectively on Big Oil when one of its leaders has been tapped as the next Secretary of State? They've been taking money from Exxon/Mobil for awhile because those commercials have been running for awhile.
After all, part of CNN's job is supposed to be reporting on and covering (NOT covering for)on the airwaves on which it sells air-time, isn't it?
Should this be discussed openly? I wonder if anybody at the networks that run those Exxon/Mobil commercials has thought of this? Should we as consumers be letting them know we're watching and questioning this? Should that be a concern? Have the networks fully flitched off any sense of objectivity or independence, or are they just wholly-owned subsidiaries?
Or is this even an issue? The Donald seems intent on blurring lines everywhere...
I remember that argument coming up when I was still working. None of us ever came up with a suitable answer.
= new reply since forum marked as read
