Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:12 pm
Republicans love to talk about what they see as liberal bias on CNN, but today on the program Your Money, the network showed a flow chart which came straight from Republican Party, and had Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) on to explain it, completely unopposed and unquestioned. Uh CNN, your bias is showing.
Here is the video courtesy of Media Matters:
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This flow chart has been played up heavily by conservative media. It has been all over The Drudge Report, Fox News, and CNBC’s The Kudlow Report, but CNN is supposed to be “the most trusted name in news.” CNN always looks down on MSNBC and FNC for their obvious partisanship, but today’s passed a segment that was nothing more than an old Republican talking point off as unchallenged fact.
As USA Today’s On Politics blog pointed out the healthcare flowchart is an old Republican trick, “Images are powerful and, in Washington, so are flowcharts. It was a flowchart unveiled on the Senate floor in 1994 that many believe helped turn the tide against the Clinton administration’s effort to overhaul health care. That chart, produced by none other than Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter (then a Republican, now a Democrat) showed a complicated maze of government and medical programs patients would have to navigate.”
The flow chart is meant to scare people by making the reformed healthcare system look as frightening and complicated as possible. I would expect the conservative media outlets to report this chart as unquestioned fact, but CNN should know better. Why wasn’t a Democrat also on with Brady to talk about the flow chart? Why did CNN only discuss one point of view?
It is bad enough that MSNBC and Fox News have become one sided networks, but at least they wear their biases on their sleeves. This kind of bias is something that CNN claims to try to avoid, but apparently all it took to convince them to spread fear was a colorful flow chart that looks good on television. I guess facts are unnecessary, when you have good graphics.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
