After reading diaries for years and commenting for months, I have decided to take a more active role in blogging. Each week, beginning August 28th, I will periodically go to CNN.COM on the "internets" and assess the stories of the day. Each Friday, I will post a diary to expose my findings.
This will include what stories are run, how prominently they are displayed, and the general spin (if any). I am admittedly doing this from a skewed direction, as I have noticed for years that CNN.COM, being probably the most popular MSM news web site around, has skewed all news they deliver to the right. However, if I see news being skewed to the left, I will call them out on that as well. I invite all readers to point out errors, or anything that may be misleading.
Some examples of unbalanced news reporting from CNN include the fact that Patrick Kennedy gets three days of prominent news coverage on CNN's home page, plus two "Breaking News" alerts to my BlackBerry. Is this newsworthy? Certainly. Was there anything going on in the country at the time that has more of an impact on our daily lives? God, let's hope so.
On the flip side, Bob Ney resigns from Congress due to corruption and his close ties with Jack Abramoff. Does it make CNN.COM? Yes. The front page? No. It was an article that you could read by clicking on the "Politics" section. Is this newsworthy? Absolutely. Does this have an impact on Americans? Only if you care where your tax dollars are going.
MediaMatters.org does a tremendous job of catching hypocrisy in the media. My aim is to get down to specifics with one site. Since I have a full time demanding job, there may be things that I miss. But on Fridays, starting with September 1st, I will publish a diary with my findings.
I am very excited to become a full-fledged KOSsack!
makr