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Jan
27
I didn’t know this and just caught it while sitting in bed for the 48th HOURRRRRRRRRRRR on a heating pad. I apologize if this is old news.
First, CNN’s action, from Talking Points Memo:
I’ve just learned that CNN has told top Dem strategists James Carville, Paul Begala, and Robert Zimmerman — who are CNN mainstays but are all Hillary supporters — that they will not be doing any more political analysis on the network until the Democratic primary has reached a conclusion.
I’m also told that this move came after the Obama campaign repeatedly complained to high level officials at CNN about the presence of Carville and Begala on the network.
After I reached him today and pointed out that he hadn’t been on CNN in some time, Carville confirmed to me that the network had told him that he wouldn’t appear until the Dem primary is resolved.
Sam Feist, CNN’s political director, also confirmed the decision to me. “As we got closer to the voting, we made a decision to make sure that all the analysts that are on are non-aligned,” Feist said, adding that the decision had been made around the start of December. “Carville and Begala are two of the best analysts around and we look forward to seeing them on CNN plenty of times in the future, once the nominating process has ended.”
Feist pointed out that a few other analysts aligned with campaigns of both parties had been told the same, and added that aligned analysts would only be appearing in contexts where they were acting as campaign surrogates. Carville did appear on Larry King on Jan. 9 as a surrogate.
Sigh. So – I’m not interested in this from the presidential coverage standpoint. I’m interested in this for its implications in the Ohio MSM-blogosphere collaboration issues that have come up this past week with The Point, the Akron Beacon Journal/Ohio.com effort with Ben Keeler and Kyle Kutuchief. Ben is running for precinct captain in Summit County specifically so that he can help Kevin Coughlin beat Alex Arshinkoff for the head of the county’s GOP party.
So…analogizing to the CNN situation, is the ABJ/Ohio.com correct if it seeks to bar Ben from commenting on anything and everything having to do with Arshinkoff, Coughlin and Summit County politics until his race is decided, given Arshinkoff complaining about Ben’s involvement in The Point?
Maybe. But maybe not.
In a second TPM post on this subject, Donna Brazile’s continued presence on CNN is discussed:
Brazile is not openly affiliated with any campaign. And I have to say that it’s understandable that the network would ban commentators who are openly aligned with a candidate but would simultaneously keep people — like Brazile — whose rhetoric perhaps tilts in one direction but who aren’t affiliated with a campaign. After all, if the network were to get rid of anyone who ever said anything positive about one campaign or negative about another, the result would be some pretty boring TV.
Your thoughts?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:36 am January 27th, 2008 in Campaigning, Elections, Media, Ohio, Politics, WH2008, Wide Open
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13 Responses to “Obama complaints lead to CNN ban of Carville, Begala; re-assess The Point’s point for hiatus”
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I agree with your take on it; if they are openly aligned with a campaign then ask them to be a commentator when a surrogate is needed. If they are just liberal, conservative, etc, aren’t we bright enough as viewers (gasp) to figure that out? So is CNN and any other ‘medium’ supposed to spoon feed us so we think even less than we do now?
Donna Brazile should be banned for just being terrible.
I agree with CNN on the others.
Carole – I think the fact is that they do spoon feed us anyway. I watched This Week last weekend and the only one on the panel who really challenged Stephanopoulos to stop being such a wank was Katrina Vanden Heuvel from The Nation. I’d never heard of or seen her before but she’s my new hero – she was EXCELLENT at saying, “That’s pure garbage and let’s talk about what matters.” Are you familiar with her?
Why Dave! Did we hit a nerve there!? lol You did make me laugh – thank you.
No Jill, not familiar with her but now I want to be! Googling now…
She is really impressive. Here’s a link to the This Week roundtable during which I first saw her. She was excellent.
I thank you for that link Jill. She brought up the economy as a unifying theme, a few (esp. Steph) pooh poohed it until they were talking about Republicans and then it was ok? It made me crazy! She was on target! I also have always had more respect for George Will than most of the talking heads of the Right. Now I see I can listen to the show at 2am life is good ty
She’s impressive, hm!? Yeah, George is okay – I mean, he’s a straight shooter – you know he believes what he is saying and isn’t saying it for anyone, even if I don’t like what he’s saying.
Roland Martin and Donna Brazile have been carrying the water for Obama since day one, and I guarantee they will never miss a day on CNN. Long live affirmative action.
Well – I’m not exactly sure I see the connection to affirmative action, but I do think the media is splitting hairs unnecessarily.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Report is not entirely correct as Paul Begala was on CNN tonight (Feb 19th) supporting the Clintons.
I think there was some caveat about saying that they are in a certain camp or something. It was a silly line they tried to draw. Just disclose and be transparent – that’s all.
I was apalled that CNN headline news ran a clip of Brazile’s analysis — comparing Clinton to a gumbo missing a key spice — at the top of the news hour the day after the Texas debate. That’s analysis, not news, and no doubt influenced many to believe it.