Reporting on the ratings rivalry between the Fox News Channel (FNC) and CNN is often misleading--and almost always over-hyped. "Fox Tops CNN as Choice for Cable News," declared one typical headline (Chicago Tribune , 3/24/03). "Fox News Channel Continues to Crush CNN ," reported Knight Ridder (Dallas Morning News , 2/3/04) in a column comparing the rivalry to a party primary: "Fox News Channel is winning the Nielsen caucuses." Last summer (8/17/03), the New York Times Magazine declared, looking back at the period of the Iraq invasion, "Fox was--and still is--trouncing CNN in the ratings." After exposure to countless similar [...]
Jun
01
2000
PSYOPS in the Newsroom
Extra! Update June 2000
CNN got nervous when reports in European publications (Amsterdam's Trouw, 2/21/00, 2/25/00; Intelligence Newsletter, 2/17/00) revealed that PSYOPS (Psychological Operations) specialists from the U.S. Army had worked as interns at the cable network's Atlanta news headquarters. The program was terminated after its existence was revealed in Trouw, and network president Eason Jordan appeared on Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! (3/24/00) to play down its significance. But it was only after hundreds of media activists, responding to a March 27 FAIR action alert, wrote to CNN asking for an explanation that the media giant issued a formal statement acknowledging that the intern [...]
Aug
01
1998
CNN's 'Tailwind' and Selective Media Retractions
CNN's recent retraction of its "Valley of Death" story might suggest that American journalism maintains high standards for military or intelligence-related reporting--and sets the record straight when those standards aren't met. In July, CNN (and corporate sibling Time) retracted reports that U.S. special forces operating illegally in Laos in 1970 had used nerve gas as part of "Operation Tailwind," which targeted American defectors. Based on months of research and interviews conducted primarily by CNN producer April Oliver, along with senior producer Jack Smith (with correspondent Peter Arnett used mainly for star power and "marketing purposes"), the reports contained on-air, on-the-record [...]
