KEEPING THE HAWKEYES FOCUSED ON THE ISSUES….

As we get closer to the first real test of the presidential candidates voter appeal in Iowa—we’ve got a lot of choices based on their positions on things like the war in Iraq, the economy, the price of gas, how they’d deal with terrorists and immigration.

Yep.. there’s a lot of substantive issues we ought to be judging the candidates on—but their religion isn’t one of them…

But it seems that for Mitt Romney’s candidacy—his religion has become an overriding concern for many voters—so much so that’s he’s now getting ready to give a speech about it..

All this is reminiscent of when John F. Kennedy ran for the presidency. There were fears that because he was a Roman Catholic—the Pope would be giving him his marching orders….

And although a lot has been revealed about the JFK presidency—secret communications from the Vatican haven’t been unearthed yet…

…So, it’s safe to conclude Americans had nothing to fear from Kennedy’s religion when he was president.

Mitt Romney’s already held an elective office. And, although he did a number of things as Governor of Massachusetts—turning the state into a Mormon empire wasn’t one of them.

Let’s look at his policies—not his bible.

HAS CNN JUMPED THE SHARK?

“Jumped the shark” is a term that’s usually associated with TV shows that have become irrelevant and just plain no longer worth the time to watch.

The expression comes from the long running sitcom Happy Days…

After years on the air, the show was past its peak and ratings were sagging…. In a desperate attempt to recapture viewers, a storyline was conceived to have the Fonzi character jump over a shark while water skiing.

The scene was ridiculous and showed the program was so desperate for ratings that it would do anything—no matter how stupid or out of character just to stay alive on the tube.

Perhaps it is now time to apply that same term to organizations like CNN.

Last Friday— we wrote a post about the firestorm created by CNN about it’s mishandling of the GOP You-Tube debate…

Now— the exceedingly liberal Los Angeles Times is calling CNN the “Corrupt News Network” and saying “CNN has failed in its responsibilities to the political process and it’s time … to take the network out of our electoral affairs.”

You can read Tim Rutten’s entire piece here at this link. But among his points are that the network’s actions “raise serious questions about whether CNN is ethically or professionally suitable to play the political role the Democratic and Republican parties recently have conceded it.”

Strong words for sure—especially coming from another news gathering organization.

You see, the problem is CNN isn’t just damaging itself. It’s damaging ALL of journalism.

In these days when everyone with an Internet connection now has access to the web, there’s lots of checks and balances out there—and plenty of opportunities to point out dishonest activities among those entrusted to provide unbiased news coverage whether it’s by television, bloggers or the newspapers.

So, considering the magnitude of what CNN has done, it may not have just jumped the shark—it may be devoured by it too!

—Steve

Back in 1980 when CNN was just starting—some in the news business didn’t know what to make of the concept and they referred to it derisively as the Chicken Noodle Network—because its logo looked like the noodles you found in a can of chicken soup.

Over the years, CNN became the model for various other cable networks—as others copied and refined the format and techniques pioneered by Ted Turner’s techies.

Now-a-days, no one calls CNN the Chicken Noodle Network anymore… But, perhaps it’s time to revive the “chicken” part of the nickname.

WHY?

Because the network is apparently scared to practice honest journalism anymore.

There’s a huge firestorm of controversy now about the way CNN handled the YOU-TUBE Republican debate…

This link here is just one of a number of stories that slap CNN for allowing a Hillary Clinton campaign operative to ask questions at the debate and identifying him an ordinary Joe—instead of revealing who he was working for.

It’s left the network backpedaling and apologizing while critics from both sides of the aisle blast them.

But this isn’t the first time there’s been a controversy about about the way CNN conducts itself in debates. …

This story linked here quotes a student who complained that CNN forced her to ask the question IT wanted during the Democratic debate that the network hosted earlier this month in Las Vegas.

And, the student claims, all the questions CNN used in that debate in Nevada were set up because CNN chose and approved them days in advance…

Now—we’re starting to see a pattern. And as the lawyers say, when you see a pattern, there’s intent.

I’ll leave it to others to speculate as to CNN’S motive in doing this…

But one thing is clear…

We as journalists need to be unflinchingly honest in our reporting—and in how we create the settings for that reporting.

Our questions have to be legitimate—and there can’t even be the appearance of impropriety in what we do.

Of that—there can be no debate.

—Steve

Link here to the news story Steve covered today on NBC-17

Once again—it seems the media just can’t get it right… This time–it’s about all those pesky questions reporters keep asking.

Its becoming obvious—reporters aren’t needed or wanted to ask questions.

Those making the news can just ask the questions themselves.

Saves a lot of trouble, time and effort, doesn’t it?

First we had our friends over at FEMA conducting the fake news conference during the California wildfires.

This link here tells of how agency employees were “encouraged, and in some cases instructed, to pose as reporters and ask questions.”

The story also includes a photo of the FEMA staffers sitting in the briefing posing as reporters.

But of course, the boss answering the questions didn’t know his staffers weren’t reporters (nudge, nudge, wink, wink.)

Sounds a lot like Hillary Clinton’s Campaign.. Accused of planting fake questions ahead of time so that the candidate would give just the right answer…

In this link, the student who asked the planted question claims she wasn’t the only one who was approached.

And there are reports that Hillary’s campaign was caught planting questions at another event in Iowa.

Of course, the media itself is to blame in large part for a lot of this.

We have slowly abdicated our responsibility when it comes to putting people’s feet to the fire.

We’re content to be “friends” with people we cover.

We don’t want to rock the boat–OR get anyone upset—especially the powerful.

If we do get ‘em mad—they won’t invite us to all the cool parties they throw..

Then, when someone like Tim Russert actually does his job and asks a few pointed questions—the newsmakers get all upset and cry they’re being picked on.

We’ve got another presidential debate coming up–and you can read here about reports that have surfaced claiming moderator Wolf Blitzer has already been told not to act like Tim Russert when it comes to dealing with Hillary..

We’ll have to see who asks what kinds of questions—and to whom they ask ‘em…

In the meantime, I’m going to practice my own tough questioning…

I should ask the next newsmaker I interview “if they could be a tree—what kind of tree would they want to be”……

Hey—it worked for Barbara Walters….

TALK BACK

As long as we’re talking politics—this fits right in…

Several posts back, we ran a couple of items about Hillary Clinton referring to herself as a “president” when she was in the White House. I said I thought it might be fun if we kept track of how many times in the campaign she did that.

Well, reader Brian S. has found another example.

He writes:

Check out paragraph six of this news story. Not saying she was the president, but close.

To help keep track of these Hillaryisms, we’re going to post a sidebar link which we’ll update every time a reader spots a “I was the president” gaffe from Mrs. Clinton.

…And just so you won’t think we’re picking on Hillary Clinton, let’s look for other funny, or bizarre things the other candidates are doing. If you can verify ‘em—we’ll post ‘em!

—Steve