digg

"The network never considered for a minute that new media might behave differently than television -- that the regular rules might not apply.
And that's the problem.
As far as CNN (and to be fair, the mainstream TV press in general) believes, it still sits comfortably at the top of the food chain, unthreatened by any possibility of a major paradigm shift being brought to bear by a horde of little people with laptops and opinions. Although the big networks recognize the need to appeal to bloggers, they don't fear them -- and that means that they doesn't respect them."
Thought provoking and informative. Good submission.

the "shareholder" mention seems to point to the single cause of so many ideals and principles that people should stand up for and not be punished for: doing what is right for the sake of right and not for the sake of the Almighty Dollar.

"I watched my bosses literally stand in the middle of the newsroom and ask, "What can we do to not lead with Iraq?" -- the reason being that Iraq, although an important story, wasn't always a surefire ratings draw. I was asked to complete self-evaluations which pressed me to describe the ways in which I'd "increased shareholder value." (For the record, if you're a rank-and-file member of a newsroom, you should never under any circumstances even hear the word "shareholders," let alone be reminded that you're beholden to them.)"

I bet there are a lot of people in the mainstream press who understand their responsibility to the public and are distraught with what the media has become.

"All it takes is one person to stand up and say '***** this.'"

I already lost respect for CNN when they cut up John Cena's interview. No professional news organization should do something like that.

Stunning. The Network is more relevant than ever, and _that_ was made in 1976. Nice submission.

What corporate entity WOULDN'T fire you for having a blog these days?

If they wanted you to express an opinion, you'd get one with your per deim voucher.

We've been part of the problem. We need to stop putting CNN stories on the frontpage of Digg. For example, when Barack Obama wins the primary of some state, the Digg submission will often link to a CNN story. We need to stop doing that. When news happens, there are plenty of other websites that will have the story. We need to link to those other websites, not CNN. Giving CNN page views only feeds the monster.

Great piece. "During my last couple of years as a television news producer, I watched the networks try to recover from a six year failure to bring truth to power (the political party in power being irrelevant incidentally; the job of the press is to maintain an adversarial relationship with the government at all times) and what's worse, to pretend that they had a backbone all along." Never was this more evident than when Colbert was doing his brilliant bit a the Correspondent's Dinner. Whenever the camera cut to the crowd, you could see tables of elite White House reporters looking around to see whether it was safe to laugh, especially after Bush stopped laughing. On the other hand, when Bush did his unfunny "Bubba" twin skit he got a standing ovation.

More than half the stuff on CNN isn't even news normally and a large part of the rest of it is either slanted, made up or been on the internet for a few days already. CNN is almost as bad as Faux.

The boss it just ***** he took him out of his Top 8.

Wow

"NOTE: Your continued employment at CNN serves as acceptance of the following terms and conditions.

1. You are not allowed to have an opinion or to express that opinion in any medium. Failure to comply may result in immediate termination.

..."

What an eye-opening exposure. I had always viewed CNN as having a backbone, much more so than Fox. But now I see they are the same maybe even worse. I'm definitely passing this on to everyone I know. CNN has its priorities wildly ***** up if they are lead by market share and no longer the truth. I mean, why not just have re-runs of Ricki Lake or Maury's Midget Tossing Marathon if they want the market share? Let's show the Cornhole News Network that this will NOT stand.

The MSM is dead. Or rather, it is Undead and feeding off your BRAINS!

All I have to say to that article, is ***** YEAH!

Mainstream news is such *****. I can't believe how much respect I once had for it but that's mostly gone now. The Daily Show is more real, truthful and insightful than all of the mainstream news channels combined.

down with CNN!!! thanks to digg i know about all these new sites like crooks and liars and thinkprogress. its really exciting to see how accessible information will be in the future for everybody and how it'll seriously change the political landscape because nobody will be able to hide anything...now if we could only teach old people to use computers!

***** yeah!

"I listened to Lou Dobbs play the loud-mouthed fascist demagogue, Nancy Grace fake ratings-baiting indignation, and Glenn Beck essentially do nightly stand-up -- and that's not even taking into account the 24/7 Vaudeville act over at Fox News."

Worth the price of admission right there.

I wrote CNN via their website contact us form and responded with:
After reading this blog post I have confirmed what I have been able to tell from the last couple years watching CNN. Sadly, friends and family I've spoken to have aired the same sentiments: CNN is more concerned about ratings than news. This was especially apparent with the Anna Nicole Smith coverage. I recommend you circulate this article internally. It talks about a former American Morning producer who was fired without warning.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chez-pazienza/say-wh ...

Very smart of them. I didn't just add his blog's RSS feed to my toolbar or anything. I mean, why would I when I could read mainstream news[crap on a shtick]?

This man's story is exactly what is wrong with the MSM. They do what they're corporate backers tell them to--who, in turn, do what the government tells them because of the subsidies/tax breaks given. The entire corrupt system needs to be destroyed. This is why we end up with the crapfests that we call presidential elections: Bush v Kerry, McCain vs Obama/Hillary (most likely Obama; while not the worst choice, he still made the top 10 corrupt politicians of 2007).

Wolf Blitzer is a tool

Fired? Excuse me?
Does CNN own their employees and can dictate what they can or can not do on their own free time? CNN has the power to limit an employees right to free speech? UNHEARDOF!

Why does American workers accept such slave conditions and why are they even legal?

quote: "All it takes is one person to stand up and say '***** this.'" I truly hope so, because I'm finally doing just that.

Haha, yeah right! She found her spine only *after* she lost her fat corporate paycheck. Wh00p!

*stands up*

To traditional news media: "***** this."

I was with him until he called Lou Dobbs a fascist. I'm surprised they haven't fired Dobbs
because of his anti-globalist views.

Thank God for Olbermann. While I know he's a man and undoubtedly riddled with flaws that his detractors will reign down upon him one day at least he's up there fighting the good fight with some honesty, integrity and wit. He gives me hope for the future generations of journalists. Not all, but perhaps his blinding contrast to the idiocy of CNN and Fox will inspire the right ones when we need them most.

A lot of people criticize getting ones news from independent websites and bloggers, but the fact is that either way you have to find the truth in a sea of bias and disinformation. The difference is that the major media outlets have a guaranteed corporate agenda.

who watches cnn anymore? that's why I only watch fox news
that's what I call unbiased

Chez is a good man, I'm sure he'll bounce back. His writings are also at his personal blog, http://www.deusexmalcontent.com/ . It's a good read and bookmark :)

What a fantastic personal account.
As someone's who's studying media and is aiming to enter journalism in any way possible, this frank article was an education. Yes, he didn't speak up while working there, but how many would? It's not as though CNN was acting in a straight-out, black-and-white unethical way. They simply weren't filling the role that the news media should. For a high paying job, most people would just shut up and mutter. I know I'd be one of them.
This a pretty rare personalised glimpse into the newsroom. Sure, you hear a lot, but this is straight from the horse's mouth. He's right about mainstream media's view of blogging and Web 2.0 - they'll tip their hat, build themselves a website, and then pretend the whole evolution of media isn't happening. It's blinkered and restrictive, and will only end up hurting themselves.
This is a subject I feel really strongly about. I've got nothing against personal opinion flavouring the news - let's face it, blogging thrives on that - but it always needs to have a place, and be announced. CNN and countless other news outlets don't do that anymore.

Funny, I was just watching that old film 'Network'. So very relevant in this day and age.

FAUX NEWS, CNN, They are both exactly the same in my opinion.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-sheffield/200 ...
Some background into why Chez was fired. Seems like an ordinary media member to me, and more surprising that CNN fired him...

Perhaps i'm wrong but.Back during the cold war. the west was always told how Pravda reported the news, it was the official mouth of the Soviet line.and that the news from the west was open and free of bias.Somewhere, somehow they either sold out, or perhaps bought into censorship.

I think sometimes people forget that Ted Turner started CNN. Or what he said in the first few minutes of its broadcast....

"We won't be signing off until the world ends. We'll be on, and we will cover the end of the world, live, and that will be our last event. . . . and when the end of the world comes, we'll play 'Nearer My God to Thee' before we sign off."

First digg article I have felt compelled to read the whole way through in a long time. This was a good digg.

As a Journalism major, I find the current state of most mass media outlets disheartening. Didn't these people who currently blindly brainwash our country with complete disregard for the modern world ever have journalistic integrity and dreams to inspire people with their words? CNN should perhaps think twice about firing an employee for simply having a blog; it's the equivalent of getting fired for your Myspace... just stupid. How far do they need to go to take away your personal freedoms outside of work? The points made by this man only further allude to the fact that it will be incredibly hard for me to take one word from the MSM's mouth seriously. Someone else said it... but you know the mainstream media is in trouble when parody shows like The Daily Show & The Colbert Report are more accurate. Here's to the future of Journalism; hopefully it picks its self up off the ground before I refuse to work for some lame corporation who has no interest in REAL journalism and wind up with absolutely nothing to do with my degree. We can has real news plz?

Where I am we get the signal of CNN-En-Español, and the truth is that I can barely watch it because it sickens me what a benevolent image of the US they show every day. I get the feeling I'm watching an excessively revised set of news, in an attempt to make us like them more. There is not a single demostration of self criticism. They seem to believe that their audience is just the US-stereotype of Latin-Americans (that is, stupid, lazy and brown). During 9/11 I got more informed of what was happening through our own national news channels than through them. And I still remember this journalist, Patricia Janiot, during John Paul the 2nd. services, saying repeatedly "... blah blah this is the first non-Catholic pope since blah blah... "

I guess CNN hasn't heard of digg...
"Digg.com the most reliable name in news"

Is there any question to why people are turning away from traditional media anymore? I personally have traded CNN for Discovery Channel + Digg + Blogs and feel more enlightened than ever as to the state of the world!
It disgusts me that CNN (Don't get me started on FOX the biggest Syphilis whore of Network TV) would be so plain retarded as to risk ***** off the opinion makers of today and tomorrow!