CNN handed over its network to the Democratic Party last week, leaving the Democratic National Convention almost in its infancy – but critics and media watchdogs do not expect the GOP to receive equal treatment from the liberal network.
CNN aired 520 minutes of the 583-minute party-produced event, skipping only parts, such as closing musical acts and prayers, according to the Media Research Center.
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CNN left the majority of the Democratic National Convention uninterrupted, but critics do not expect the same treatment for the Republican version.
“Between about 9pm and the end of the main speech each night, CNN never interrupted the DNC procedures for any kind of comment or analysis, and only interrupted for a few commercials,” MRC Investigative Director Rich Noyes found.
“Otherwise, every speech, every video, every lame joke was reproduced exactly as planned by the party.”
The four-night Republican National Convention begins Monday and many watchdogs do not expect CNN to provide the same favorable treatment for the GOP.
‘Expect the difference to be drastic – not just in the pundit response, but in the actual coverage choice itself. Prepared at an inopportune time, ”wrote CNN digital producer-turned-Fourth Watch editor Steve Krakauer.
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“Networks like CNN believe they are in an existing fight with the man in the White House,” Krakauer added. “You think they’re just going to put out a campaign ad for him – even if that’s the ‘norm’ or the tradition … or even what they just did for the Democrats?”
Krakauer then remarked that CNN had already “laid the groundwork for CNN to give unequal time to the RNC” when the liberal network’s internal media critic Brian Stelter thought aloud about whether networks should separate themselves from what they consider “disinformation” .
Stelter predicted a ‘truth balance’ on Sunday, claiming that viewers are likely to hear ‘lies coming quickly and furiously from the president’ and his allies during RNC speeches.
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“There is a real difference, there is a real contrast in how many lies and decay take place between Trumpworld and other parts of the political universe. I do not think we can paint too broad a brush here, Democrats versus Republicans. But it is definitely Trumpworld versus other political leaders. I think it’s called something asymmetrical lying, “Stelter said before noting that CNN fact-checkers found DNC speeches” largely accurate. ”
Tim Graham of Media Research Center responded, “The first sign you know someone sounds like a DNC publicist is when they find everything the Democrats ‘for the most part say exactly’. It’s ‘accurate’ to have 175,000 dead on Trump “It is ‘accurate’ to say that the Protestants in the streets are almost completely ‘peaceful’.”
DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall thinks it will be interesting to see if CNN treats both parties equally – but he does not expect conservatives to be upset with the outcome.
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“Coverage of the DNC last week was quite festive and cheerful, with not much control over various claims of the speakers. “Given the practice of CNN in recent years, viewers should not expect this approach during the RNC,” McCall told Fox News.
CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Despite Stelter claiming that the DNC was the most accurate, CNN actually found some issues with things that were said at last week’s convention – but the network did not cut back on actual real-time checks, instead doing so to the fact as online.
CNN’s Holmes Lybrand said that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was “deceived” when he described his response to the coronavirus state as a success, Joe Biden may have been inaccurate about the number of companies closing in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, John Kerry have been misleading when he talks about Iran’s nuclear deal and Michelle Obama could not mention that “cows” used to house children at the border were built during her husband’s administration.
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CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale also wrote a web article pointing out various misinformation published by the DNC, and expanding on many of Lybrand’s findings. Dale, Lybrand, and other CNN personalities were quick to add disclaimers such as “there has not been a lot of fact-checking” by Democrats before pointing out all the things that needed fact-checking or clarification.
CNN interrupted despite all the findings of Lybrand and Dale’s Democratic speeches in real time, which Stelter feels the network will do for Republicans.
Vanity Fair contributing writer Peter Hamby told Stelter on Sunday that it “presents a direct imbalance” and would be unfair if CNN did not treat both parties equally.
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Lois Boynton, a professor of ethics for journalism at the University of North Carolina, told Fox News that it would be “wise” for CNN to listen to Hamby.
“In addition to the important fairness factor, networks across the board should consider the annoyance cuts for those who want to view a speech or a set of comments in their entirety,” Boynton said.
McCall agrees, saying “it would be journalistic to expect a news organization to actually control a political convention,” but it should not play favorites.
“CNN will open itself up to criticism of bias as they engage in strict fact-checking for the RNC, while last week they took a soft line for the DNC.”
“CNN will open itself up to criticism of bias as it engages in strict fact-checking for the RNC, while taking a soft line for the DNC last week,” McCall said. “The same goes if CNN programmers limited the time for RNC speakers to run with a few interruptions during the DNC last week.”
CNN left 89% of the DNC uninterrupted, according to the MRC.
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“CNN should put a stopwatch on its uninterrupted RNC programming and try to compare it with the amount of uninterrupted DNC programming. “There will still be a lot of time for analysis and commentary by CNN experts before and after the RNC sessions,” McCall said.
Another interesting element is the planned speech by student Nick Sandmann of Covington Catholic College, who earlier this year settled a multimillion-dollar lawsuit with CNN over his clashing coverage of a viral confrontation with a Native American elder who the Kentucky teenager had been falsely portrayed as the aggressor.
CNN political commentator Errol Louis appeared on the network Sunday to discuss the significance of Sandmann at the RNC, saying he was just part of a ‘one- or two-day story’ news cycle and implicitly he is just red meat for Trump’s basis to “ignite the fires of sorrow” and base the media in the process.
It is unclear if CNN intends to air Sandmann’s speech.
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Meanwhile, MSNBC last week also handed over its prime-time schedule to the Democrats – even broadcasting a few extra minutes of the convention than CNN did. Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson notes that MSNBC includes its liberal agenda, while CNN claims to be non-partisan.
“In a better world, CNN news coverage could give the Republican National Convention substantially the same coverage as the Democratic National Convention. But it’s not a better world, it’s a world where CNN hard news coverage claims to be neutral, but in reality every bit is like Never Trump as MSNBC, which is admirably not proposed, ‘Jacobson told Fox News
