THE QUEST FOR LIBERAL NEWS

CNN is actually called Communist News Network by some conservatives due to it's supposed liberal spin. I guess those conservatives consider Fox News to be middle of the road. But even liberal news channel MSNBC is owned by GE, a war profiteering corporate giant corporation which pays roughly 1/5th of it's corporate tax rate of 35%--yes, that means around 7%--and they want to keep it that way. So while they are definitely more liberal than Fox and CNN and I love Rachel Maddow, MSNBC is about keeping the status quo: war and tax breaks for corporations.

Cenk Ugyur was asked by MSNBC honchos to stop criticizing Obama and he opted to quit instead. So The Young Turks now airs on Current TV,  Al Gore's brainchild. I watch it nightly precisely because Cenk does take on Obama. He never fails to point out that Obama has stocked his cabinet with big bankers and I loved his great point that Obama was able to repeal DADT and seem like a liberal in doing so--only because the repeal in no way endangered banking interests. Cenk also criticized the president's ridiculously slow Afghanistan withdrawal--which really ends in 2024 despite some troops home by the end of summer. Humorous and insightful, last night's broadcast featured an interview with Hugh Hefner, who not only critiqued Republicans for their war on sex and women, but who expressed his disappointment that Obama is essentially a war president whom is too tied up with the banks which crashed our economy to do anything about it. Right on, Hugh! I had no idea that he was that left-leaning. Or maybe it's just truth--leaning, which no other news networks seem to be.

Here's an advice column from Huffpo written by Cenk to address CNN's poor ratings. Sadly, Current TV's ratings are worse, and Time Warner cable may yank them from it's bundle if things don't improve. If they would have a more effective way to embed their videos, you'd see a lot more of them on this blog. Unfortunately, The Young Turks' doesn't allow you to embed every segment of every newscast, so you can't post Cenk's incisive opening comments.

Anyhoo, here's Cenk's article on what's wrong wtih CNN. And if you agree, I strongly suggest that you check out Current TV before it's too late.

Friendly Advice to CNN -- Change Everything

 So here it is -- for the love of God, stop doing "he said, she said" crap that doesn't actually deliver the news to anyone. Democrats said this and Republicans said that -- who cares? What is the reality?! Your job is supposed to be to bring us facts, not what official spokespeople told you in their press releases and talking points.

The problem is that CNN doesn't have the courage to do this. They're afraid it might offend some folks if you tell the American people reality. I want to be clear; I'm not saying they should give us opinion. There's plenty of that in other parts of cable, including my show. They're never going to out-opinion me. But if Mitt Romney says his proposal balances the budget, well, why don't you crunch the numbers and tell us whether that's true or not? Of course the reality is that it creates trillions of dollars in deficits just so that the rich can have more tax cuts. But CNN would consider reporting those facts as being biased.

If the Giants play the Cowboys and beat them silly, it is not biased to report that they won. You don't have a pro-Giants bias if you report the score. I'm a progressive but I have no interest in CNN skewing issues in favor of Democrats. By all means, call them out just as aggressively. The Democratic Party takes huge amounts of cash from corporations and unions to vote a certain way. My God, CNN doesn't even cover the role of money in politics. They take politicians at their word. Are you kidding? It seems like the people who work at CNN are the last people in the country who actually trust our politicians. Congressional approval ratings were recently at 11 percent. How well do you think you're going to do on television if you're sucking up to those guys?

MORE:   HUFFPO

A FEW RECENT CURRENT TV SEGMENTS I'VE ENJOYED:

Jennifer Granholm on Biden's pro-gay marriage analysis:

Marc Solomon of Freedom to Marry says Obama is losing credibility over his stance on gay marriage. “He’s been evolving now for 19 months and counting,” Solomon points out. What move would make the difference to voters? “It would be to come out and talk to why he supports the freedom to marry in a heartfelt way,” he says. “People want their President to speak from the heart and be honest.”

WATCH:   CURRENT.COM


Cenk interviews Hugh Hefner:

Cenk interviews Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy magazine, about the right wing’s “war against sex,” where President Obama has fallen short, and criticism from some feminists for exploiting women.

Hefner says, “I’m on the right side of the sexual revolution, too. I know what the world was like before Playboy — and repression is very hurtful. If we’re not free in or own skins, if we’re not free in our own bedrooms then we’re not free at all.”

Plus Cenk challenges Hef to ban banksters from the Playboy Mansion.

WATCH:   CURRENT.COM


Are we fools to hope that Obama will be more liberal in his second term?


WATCH:   CURRENT.COM