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Former CNN Bureau Chief Reveals Why She Quit
imdb.com ^ | 20 June 2005

Posted on 06/20/2005 10:58:52 PM PDT by paudio

CNN's former bureau chief in Beijing and Tokyo has acknowledged that she resigned from the cable news network because she "had been growing increasingly frustrated with the direction CNN was going in." In an interview appearing in the current Columbia Journalism Review, Rebecca MacKinnon remarked that she had become aware of a trend toward "less interest in serious news and ... towards more infotainment, from anything but a war zone." She said that as "neither a war correspondent nor an infotainment news bunny," she was forced to reexamine her place at the network, especially after being told things by her superiors like, "Your expertise is getting in the way of doing the kind of stories we want to see on CNN" and "We'd like you to cover the region more like a tourist." MacKinnon said that when she came to the network in 1992, when it was still owned by Ted Turner, it placed heavy emphasis on international stories. "There was this real feeling that if a story mattered, we should cover it. If you had a strong argument to that effect and you could pitch that to Ted Turner, the funds would be there, because he viewed CNN as something other than a product that you just sell on the market for profit maximization. He saw it as something more socially significant than that." All that, she said, changed after the merger with Time Warner, when the attitude became, "if you couldn't justify high ratings with a story, increasingly, they didn't want to spend money on it. Of course, it's hard to know in advance sometimes."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cnn
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To: woofie

That little bugger was prolific before his ZOT.


21 posted on 06/20/2005 11:43:09 PM PDT by Choose Ye This Day ("I don't think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday." -- Abraham Lincoln)
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To: paudio
This is the other reason I don't watch CNN (on purpose). It's got the feeling of a stuffy, poorly-executed knock-off of Fox & Friends.
22 posted on 06/20/2005 11:45:30 PM PDT by MitchellC
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To: BigSkyFreeper

In reality, when I watched it in Orlando when it was first aired, the show was on at 11 or 11:30, and it did not stay on in that time slot long because in reality, it was not a particularly great TV show. I remember that excuse being floated for the slot change then, but if it had been so great it was syndicated and surely someone would have let it on an evening slot if only for the money.


23 posted on 06/21/2005 12:01:32 AM PDT by LibertarianInExile (<-- sick of faux-conservatives who want federal government intervention for 'conservative things.')
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To: LibertarianInExile

In NY I remember it being on about 1 in the am.


24 posted on 06/21/2005 12:10:43 AM PDT by I still care (America is not the problem - it is the solution..)
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To: I still care

It was on that late in Orlando by the time it went off the air.


25 posted on 06/21/2005 12:11:43 AM PDT by LibertarianInExile (<-- sick of faux-conservatives who want federal government intervention for 'conservative things.')
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To: thoughtomator
["Your expertise is getting in the way of doing the kind of stories we want to see on CNN"]

Her "expertise" being left-wing propaganda?

The impression I got was that she wanted to do real journalism, and CNN didn't.

26 posted on 06/21/2005 1:16:29 AM PDT by Ichneumon
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To: paudio
Fwiw, she has a blog.

RConversation

27 posted on 06/21/2005 2:21:43 AM PDT by csvset
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To: paudio

She said she was "neither a war correspondent nor an infotainment news bunny,"...

"News Bunny"? So, only ugly women should do the news? Uh... let's see... Helen Thomas as a TV news anchor....


28 posted on 06/21/2005 2:51:26 AM PDT by BillyCrockett
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To: paudio
She said that as "neither a war correspondent nor an infotainment news bunny,"


29 posted on 06/21/2005 3:17:33 AM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: paudio

Oh, I don't know. This chick seems to think she knows what's best for the nation. Seems like a real good fit with CNN.


30 posted on 06/21/2005 4:08:46 AM PDT by mewzilla
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To: SkyPilot

A "News Bunny?" Looks like a News Toad to me.


31 posted on 06/21/2005 4:22:17 AM PDT by DH
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To: SteveMcKing

Sure, Greta does real serious news stories now. NOT


32 posted on 06/21/2005 4:26:33 AM PDT by ontos-on
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To: LibertarianInExile
For what his show was it was a huge success. The time slot sucked and the format wasn't what people were used to at all. It wasn't even on cable and yet it had better ratings than many cable talk shows today. If Rush wanted his own show on cable, someone would give it to him or they would be fools.

Rush has never been Hannity but when he was on his pill problem he wasn't at his best. If you haven't listened to Rush lately you have been missing out. He is far and away better than anyone else out there.

I started listening to Rush in '91 and have heard all the other guys since and they can't touch him.

33 posted on 06/21/2005 4:33:45 AM PDT by normy (Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.)
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To: paudio
(Turner) saw (CNN)as something more socially significant."

No bias at CNN. Right?

I am sure that whatever Ted Turner thinks is "socially significant" is significant to us. /sarcasm

34 posted on 06/21/2005 4:56:33 AM PDT by linkinpunk
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To: Ichneumon
The impression I got was that she wanted to do real journalism, and CNN didn't.

But the key here is that she wanted to do "real journalism" on "socially significant" stories.

The plight of baby seals, but not abortion/breast cancer risks... The "hard life" of Palistinians living in Israel, but not the fear that Israelis have of their children getting bombed on a school bus. GWB's supposed drunk driving in 1974, but not the comments and feelings of the servicemen who served with John Kerry in Vietnam.

Who gets to decide what is "socially significant"?

35 posted on 06/21/2005 5:03:48 AM PDT by linkinpunk
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To: linkinpunk
The plight of baby seals, but not abortion/breast cancer risks... The "hard life" of Palistinians living in Israel, but not the fear that Israelis have of their children getting bombed on a school bus. GWB's supposed drunk driving in 1974, but not the comments and feelings of the servicemen who served with John Kerry in Vietnam.

Excellent points. We could go on and on:

- Headline stories about the wonders of "Holistic Medicine" and "Karbaalah", but not the persecution of Christians in the Sudan, North Korea, and China.

- Incessant stories about car bombings in Baghdad, and not one story about the schools built, hospitals with new equipment, jobs created, or Iraqis celebrating their new freedoms.

- Story after story about the thrills of "Gay Marriage", and not one about the level of suicide, violence, STDs, drug abuse in the homosexual community. (Or the fact that the average life expectancy of a homosexual man is 43.)

36 posted on 06/21/2005 9:01:24 AM PDT by SkyPilot
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