CNN CRAP NETWORK NEWS

I think I have a far and distant memory of when CNN was first launched in 1980. I was 14, and I recall that the network stood out for being innovative as well as entertaining. Then again…I was 14, so what the hell did I know about broadcast journalism or news coverage.

During the years CNN has been a channel that consistently served me well. My obsessive personality was grateful for the extensive coverage of the O.J. trial (A trial because of my then working hours I was able to absorb almost every minute of). Their coverage of the Yugoslav wars was excellent, with Christiane Amanpour providing erections as well as precise news coverage. During Iraq I, CNN was the source for excellent coverage, even though Bernard Shaw thought fit to take shelter behind the sofa as the first attacks took place. Even 9-11 (and I was in New York) it was CNN I turned on to view the horrific spectacle of the second plane hitting the south tower.

Right, so now I am the transposed age of when I first saw CNN and I would like to think at 41 I'm a bit more clued-up than when I was 14, although sometimes I do wonder.
It occurs to me that lately CNN has dumbed-down its news coverage for a demographic not surpassing the age of 10. No longer does it stand out as clever and innovative; it stands out like a load of bollocks.

Today: CNN ran this on their website:

LONDON, England (AP) -- Collectors paid thousands of pounds (dollars) Saturday for letters from British royalty to a trusted servant, including a note from the late Queen Mother Elizabeth requesting the aide pack bottles of gin and Dubonnet for an outing, "in case it is needed."

Pounds (dollars)? What do the two have in common? A pound is worth twice as much as a dollar, for starters. How about writing pounds (currency)? I think more than just being stupid…it’s arrogant: would a news organization in another country, say Greenland write ‘pounds (krone)?’ I think not.

Just after its birthday the ‘United States’ stands out like an ill-educated, overweight boxer…punch drunk on past and fleeting glory. Stumbling, slow. Trudging through muck, self inspired doom and a really bad personality crisis.

CNN provides all the insight to this, in this one encapsulation of the very insular society that becomes more a victim of its own failure each and every year.

Happy (albiet belated) birthday, USA.

‘So sorry things have failed to work out.

Sorry too, for CNN.

You launched like your country: full of promise, full of bright ideas.

You become like your country: no promise, out of bright ideas.

Oh, and just to let you know: your flag is ugly and all the world hates you.