Pie chart image of the day

heh



H/T: The Corner

Wanted: Photogenic Reader

Cable News Anchor? Honestly, how hard could it be? Your face is airbrushed for a full two hours before going on-air, you get to read from a teleprompter and if you can’t come up with anything "fair and balanced" to say while reading the news, corporate is more than happy to oblige in ginning-up the talking points.

Case in point: CNN felt compelled to issue a memo to assist their people in the coverage of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s stepping down from his position as President-for-life. Full story here. Excerpt of same:

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* Please note Fidel did bring social reforms to Cuba – namely free education and universal health care, and racial integration. in addition to being criticized for oppressing human rights and freedom of speech.

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* Also the Cuban government blames a lot of Cuba’s economic problems on the US embargo, and while that has caused some difficulties, (far less so than the collapse of the Soviet Union) the bulk of Cuba’s economic problems are due to Cuba’s failed economic polices. Some analysts would say the US embargo was a benefit to Castro politically – something to blame problems on, by what the Cubans call “the imperialist,” meddling in their affairs.

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* While despised by some, he is seen as a revolutionary hero, especially with leftist in Latin America, for standing up to the United States. Any questions, please call the international desk.

Please…..? Please…..? And this international (“help”) desk…. Will Raul will be patched-in from Cuba to help fill-in any gaps?

Our favorite part of this memo is in the first bullet: “… in addition to being criticized for oppressing human rights and freedom of speech.” The point CNN makes is not that the son of a bitch actually did oppress his people, mind you, but that he was merely criticized for it. Unbelievable.

Then there’s the issue of the reasoning behind this memo…. like CNN anchors needed to be reminded of their official Castro policy? As if it has not been seared into their very DNA by mere repetition?

But far beyond any bias that is exhibited, what really stuns us regarding the conduct of news outlets these days is the absence of sophistication and the complete lack of critical self-awareness. The kind of self-conscious behavior to where the author of this memo finishes writing it, gets up to go for a walk or grab a bite to eat, comes back to his office to proof-read it and in doing so, smacks his head saying, “What the hell am I thinking?”

Again, a memo like this is evidentiary of a herd mentality that does not possess the ability for introspection or objective analysis… and they wonder why they lose viewers and readership.