My buh-bye letter to CNN

[Cleita]

Congratulations! I have finally turned CNN off permanently. As a news’ junkie, I used to watch you every free moment I got. However, I expect my news to adhere to journalistic standards. If it also aspires to excellence, then I am in heaven. Unfortunately CNN, you haven’t met the minimum criteria ever since Ted Turner left, let alone the lofty one.

Although I stopped watching most of your programming a long time ago, I still watched Crossfire every day. Now I‘ve stopped watching even that show. Although Paul Begala and James Carville supposedly represent the opposite viewpoint, they are constantly shouted down while Tucker Carlson, Bob Novak and their right wing guests get to air the most preposterous, lying statements and no one puts them in the so-called “crossfire” to back up what they say.

If one of the liberal guys gets in a word edgewise, Carlson starts screeching like a stuck piglet and Novak never met an outrageous lie that he didn’t love. You really should call yourselves GNN for the Goebbel’s News Network. All you are is a propaganda outlet for the extreme right wing that is successfully turning us into a fascist country thanks to all the help you are giving them.

You are part of the problem by airing every minute detail of their character assassination modus operandi since the days of Bill and Hillary Clinton to the questioning of the military medals received by the present Democratic candidate and war hero John Kerry. But you don’t stop there. You allow them to call John Edwards, a trial lawyer, the cause of high priced mal-practice insurance.

Hillary Clinton is especially criticized and insulted by Mr. Novak any chance he gets. What did she ever do but serve her country to deserve what he dishes out? However, when Bush commits treason and lies to invade a nation that he has a personal issue with, sending our kids in to be killed, there is nary a word of criticism offered. You are pathetic.

I have heard the most egregious, erroneous statements aired on your network as fact. Worse yet is the news you omit, like the truth about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and what the Bush administration is doing to rob our country blind and turn it into a banana republic.

Hopefully, one of these days, some real journalists will get the backing they need to develop a real news channel to challenge you because people like me hunger, not for conservative or liberal views, but for the facts and truth and reporting all those things that are news no matter how much it may hurt your pet cause or person. It’s known as journalistic integrity and you CNN haven’t an ounce of that left anymore.

[Iceburg]

1. Excellent letter and Welcome to the xCnn club

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. it is growing

soon it will show in their ratings....

[theKnave]

26. re: "it is growing"

"soon it will show in their ratings.... "

It already has. However, as the ratings for CNN, CNBC, etc. go down, the ratings for FoxNews go up.

*shakes head*

[Nite Owl]

3. Nice letter.

It feels good to pass them up, a very easy habit to break surprisingly. In moving so right wing they are just screwing themselves. Their rating are down too.

[Protected]

4. I've shut CNN off as well

I use to have it on hours a day in the background, but I can't even stand to do that anymore. There are a few good journalists still there, like Walter Rodgers, but overall they've turned into Fox News 2. Some of their news readers act so amateurish that I wonder why they still have a job. It also seems like as their graphics improved earlier this year, their content sharply worsened. CNN's DNC coverage was the last straw for me.

The only cable news show I watch with any regularity now is "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" on MSNBC. Everything else on the cable 'news' channels isn't worth the cost of the electricity that my TV chews up.

[graywarrior]

5. Thanks. That letter made my day.

I quit CNN about a month ago. I got tired of having dry heaves after listening to that fucker Novak spout lies out of his flapping lips.

[Shoeempress]

6. Good for you. Did you also send copies to thier advertisers?

That is really the only way to get thier attention.

[Cleita]

15. No, but thanks for reminding me to. n/t

[Doug Decker]

7. I wished I'd said that...

just told them to Cheney off.

I used to be a CNN addict, had it on all day. Now, I'm on AAR.

[dogtag]

8. CNN's keeping Novack on the air is a slap

in the face of every American. How is anyone expected to take the gravity of the Plame affair seriously when he is front and center spewing lies without a care or any fear of suspension, never mind being fired.

His son handles publicity for the Swiftliars. No problem. CNN apparently thinks this in no way hampers his commentary on John Kerry's service in Vietnam. It's not surprising that viewers would be confused. DUers have the advantage of keeping informed through many other sources, but for those who turn to CNN for their daily dose of political news who can blame them for making assumptions?

Plame...can't be that big a deal, Novack's sitting there big as life.

Swiftliar book must be valid, Novack's son didn't present any conflict of interest...........

Arggggggghhhhh.

[Jazzgirl]

9. Excellent letter!!

I wrote them a nasty gram about 3 weeks ago. I too usually watched them just to see how they covered things but its become unbearable. I would wake up and hear that dog Carol Costello's spewing stupid crap and decided I couldn't take it anymore. I'm not watching them either!

[21winner]

10. Great move.

Now contact your cable provider and send a similar letter. Suggest that they cancel all the "news" channels.

[SemperEadem]

21. you know, that's not a half bad idea

take the cable news stations out of the basic package and make those dependent upon the lies for their information pay for their daily dose.

Perhaps the FTC should be notified that CNN, by trade, is not delivering what they claim they are.

[nofurylike]

11. excellent letter! i'm wondering

did you send it to Eason Jordan, the wha...can't remember exact title. chief executive schmoe....
maybe someone here knows title, if you need it.
the big wig of the place.


[e-mail]

[e-mail]



peace!

[David Zephyr]

12. Good Letter, Cleita.

CNN actually did more to push for war against Iraq than Fox News did...as hard as that may be to accept.

I get my news on the internet.

I only watch televised news in the AM as I prepare for work.

[MasonJar]

13. Fabulous letter. I also used to watch Crossfire. No more. That

show was the only one on CNN I watched. Maybe I too should let them know that I am no longer out there. Better still let's let their advertisers know!

[Evergreen Emerald]

14. "my mom shouts at the TV"

I stopped watching CNN when my daughter had a friend over and apologized ahead of time for her mother who "shouts at the tv." DU is much more satisfying than shouting at Candy Crowley or Wolf...I don't shout at the computer nearly as much.

[Catshrink]

16. LOL -- and welcome to DU!

How old is your daughter? Kids are so honest.

[Cha]

18. I used to do that from 2000 to 2002 until

I got my computer for the 2002 election. I'm been estactically happy with it!

Welcome to DU, Evergreen Emerald!

[Carolina]

23. LOL, you sound like me

I would not only shout,I would cuss at the bastards with blasts of:
- what the fuck
- you fucking piece of shit
- what a fucking asshole
- you lying fuck

and so on ...

THEN one day, shock of shocks because I did not realize he had come home, my son (age 18 at the time thankfully) heard me!
After laughing and playing the parental role of scolding me about my foul mouth, he said: Mom, why don't you just TURN OFF the effing TV OFF.

Welcome to DU, BTW :hi:

[Cha]

17. Cleita, that's a right on target , eloquently, letter..

I said "goodbye" to cnn in 2002 but never sent them the goodbye letter.

I hope your wish comes true..I hope America deserves it!

[senseandsensibility]

19. Your letter could have been written by me

I agree with all your points. I sent a similar letter when I began my boycott. I hope that all DUers who stop watching CNN send an e-mail explaining why they are doing it.

[mondohondo]

20. Good for you

I gave up on them a long time ago. I find Novak particularly odious. Here is a guy who aids and abets treason and they keep the jerk on the air. A while back, somebody siad he looks like Simon Bar Sinister form the old "Underdog" cartoons. I think they hit the nail right on the head!:yourock:

[Puglover]

22. Great letter!

I took CNN off my remote a year ago and haven't seen it since. I even turn my eyes when in an airport.

[sangh0]

24. Next step - Cut your cable, because CNN gets paid even if you don't watch

When you pay for cable, the cable company pays the shows it carries, whether or not you watch the channel. True, by not watching you drive the ratings down, but you still haven't cut off the flow of money going into CNN.

Don't settle for half-measures. Cut your cable! The only thing you hve to lose is a lot of RNC propoganda.

[theKnave]

27. re: "Next Step..."

or see if you can have CNN removed from your package, or get a different package that doesn't include CNN.

[Tomee450]

25. Great letter.

I used to watch CNN constantly. Lately, I rarely watch it and have decided to remove it from my channel lineup. CNN has definitely tilted to the right and is now not much different from Fox News.