Tag Archive for: journalists

40 journalists axed at CNN: Is it “Taps” for the news channel?

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Several weeks ago, as we reported here, the far left liberal propaganda outlet, Media Matters, declared its war on Fox News was over since Fox had changed its evening show lineup – obviously demonstrating Media Matters was victorious. and that due to its changing the evening show lineup they had been victorious. This assertion was of course absurd, but then again, truth and reality are only minor obstacles for liberal progressives.

However I would be interesting to hear how Media Matters would interpret this report from the Financial Times,

CNN has cut more than 40 senior journalists from its newsgathering operation – including a producer who was two weeks away from giving birth to twins – as part of a reorganization of the business under its president Jeff Zucker.

The cutting of production and editorial staff at the Time Warner-owned group comes as Mr Zucker tries to re-establish CNN as the dominant force in 24-hour cable news, a crown it lost several years ago to Fox News Channel.

Right now one of the most popular shows on CNN isn’t news at all but a travel and food program hosted by Anthony Bourdain, a celebrity chef. The channel has acquired a documentary about the discovery of a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton and it will soon air Chicagoland, a reality series about Chicago politics.

Can you imagine the Left’s reaction if Roger Ailes was making similar moves at Fox News? CNN brought in Zucker to resuscitate the ailing network, which if you were to take away its monopoly of airports, would hardly be watched by anyone.

Apparently Zucker’s efforts have failed to lift CNN’s audiences in prime time, the crucial evening period when television networks generate most of their advertising revenue. According to the Financial Times, the network continues to lag behind Fox News and recently hit a 20-year low in prime time ratings. Nielsen revealed that CNN’s ratings for the key 25- to 54-year-old demographic fell last week to their lowest level since May 2012, with CNN averaging 78,000 viewers for the whole day and 98,000 in prime time.

So much for being “the most trusted name in news” — seems like the focus will be on dinosaurs from now on– perhaps a prophetic message?

I grew up in Atlanta and remember the days of WTCG, then TBS, and then when CNN hit the scene. No one believed a 24-hour news channel could survive.

The problem isn’t about the news being reported, it’s about how the news is being reported. If you tune in CNN, as opposed to Fox News, it seems to come from a distant parallel universe based on the information reported and how it’s presented.

CNN has surely lost its mantle as a trusted news source, after all, who made the brilliant decision to give Piers Morgan his own show? Hello Media Matters, the actions of CNN certainly look like a mea culpa to me, and most everyone else.

But President Obama need not cry too much. He still has ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, and MSNBC along with most of the major newspapers carry his water.

Frankly all of them combined are getting their tails handed to them by Fox News, talk radio, and the internet. How much you want to bet this website is on the Obama and Media Matters hit lists?

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on AllenBWest.com.

Gay journalists plan to disrupt 2014 Olympics

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Mass Resistance reports:

Homosexual activists in the U.S. are working with media groups, “out LGBT athletes,” and both the US and Canadian Olympic hockey teams in a secret plan to smuggle rainbow flags, homosexual propaganda, etc. into Russia. Their intent is to disrupt the 2014 Winter Olympics with homosexual symbolism, according to a presenter at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Convention in Boston on August 24. The planned disruption is a retaliation by the homosexual movement to Russia’s recent ban on the public promotion of homosexuality.

They are also talking about “utilizing diplomatic channels” to help smuggle the homosexual flags and other materials into Russia.

Patrick Burke, co-founder of the You Can Play Project, a campaign to “end homophobia in sports,” also referred to plans for athletes to wave rainbow flags on awards podiums and at the closing ceremonies. Burke told the group that “we can’t talk about that publicly” but “there’s a lot going on behind the scenes.”.

MassResistance was present and recorded the presentation.

The Park Plaza Hotel in downtown Boston, during the conference.

Russia’s ban on public promotion of homosexuality

The 2014 Winter Olympics will be held in Sochi, Russia on February 7-23, 2014. This past June, as MassResistance reported, Russia’s parliament overwhelmingly passed a bill which bans the promotion of “non-traditional sexual relations” to minors, and which also includes bans on “gay pride” rallies or other public promotion of “homosexual propaganda.”

The Russian government has made it clear that the ban also covers participants and attendees of the 2014 Olympics. According to Burke, Russian authorities have decided to preemptively confiscate rainbow flags and pins at airports.

Remarks made at “Out on the Playing Field” session at conference

The National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) is a powerful national organization of homosexual journalists from major television news, newspapers, radio, and more. Their annual conference was held August 22-25, 2013 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel.

Burke spoke at a conference session titled, “Game Changer: Out on the Playing Field and In the Press Box,” Its description: “Hear from sportswriters and athletes who can tell you what homophobia they still see in sports and where there are areas of real improvement.” Burke apparently thought he was talking to an all-“gay” audience, and was surprisingly candid about what he’s been doing to help organize the disruption at the upcoming Olympics.

Patrick Burke prepares to address his session at the NLGJA conference. Photo courtesy of Mass Resistance.

“Rainbow flag on the podium” and more

Here is what Patrick Burke said in his presentation about the plan to infiltrate the Olympic Games and embarrass the Russian government:

We’re going to have three weeks of sustained media presence there. We are going to have out LGBT athletes there. We are going to have very vocal and visible allies there.

We’ve spoken with the Canadian and U.S. hockey teams. We’re going to be doing work with both of those teams.

The frustrating part right now is we can’t talk about that publicly because if you talk about it publicly, the Russians don’t let you in the country. So when everyone keeps asking us “What are you going to do when you get there? What are you going to do when you get there?” and we keep having to say “We can’t tell you.”

The Russians have said they’ll confiscate rainbow flags if you try and bring them in your regular luggage. They’ve said they’ll confiscate pins. We are talking about utilizing diplomatic channels to get things into the country.

There’s a lot going on behind the scenes that will frustrate people because it won’t be made public until you see an athlete on a medal stand or at closing ceremonies . . .

There’s two types of backlash that we’re concerned about.

One is government. Where a journalist or athlete whoever it might be, is arrested or is, you know, fined, is deported. Not that anyone wants to stay in Russia if the Olympics are over. That’s certainly the type of backlash that we’re concerned about.

The second is non-governmental groups. We looked into securing a pride house in Sochi. One of my very good friends basically runs the Continental Hockey League and he knows every Russian billionaire out there. We said what would it take to get a pride house? He said he’d ‘need security.’ Well yeah, get some security guards. He said ‘no, someone would shoot it up.’ He said ‘you would need ex-KGB to secure it. You guys can’t afford that.’ Well probably not. So there’s concern on my end about non-governmental groups taking matters into their own hands.

I think the athletes are going to be safe. I think if you see an athlete or a journalist do something, unless it’s excessively provocative — and I use that term from the Russian point of view; I wouldn’t consider anything excessive — you’re going to see athletes deported. I don’t think you’re going to see fines. I don’t think you’re going to see arrests. I think you’re going to see, someone waves a rainbow flag on the podium; you go right from the podium to an airplane. You get sent home.

AUDIO: LISTEN to the above comments HERE.

(NOTE: Open recording and video taping of the conference and its sessions were allowed. Some sessions were recorded and/or videoed by several people.)

A diplomatic embarrassment to Americans?

The Russian government’s efforts to protect children and society has attracted support from pro-family organizations around the world, and also from countries such as Nigeria and Uganda who are also dealing with these issues.

If this effort is successful, it will be an embarrassment not only to the Russian government — which is working hard to have a clean, wholesome atmosphere for its Olympic games — but certainly to many Americans, given that American corporations, American athletes, and possibly even our government would be  also involved in the Olympics.

The pro-homosexual Obama Administration has already complained loudly about Russia’s new law. And President Obama himself, while visiting Russia this past week, in a purposeful affront to the Russian government met with Russian homosexual activists in St. Petersburg, along with his national security advisor and the US Ambassador to Russia. So it would not be surprising Obama had the US diplomatic corps involved with this, too.

The international fallout from this, given the wide range of those involved, could be considerable.