From: Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr near Monterey, California

Did anybody else see the self promotional space filler which I spotted on CNN yesterday? I'm not going to be able to quote it exactly, because I was not near to a pencil at the time (and didn't have my VCR turned on). The general idea supposedly being promoted was that CNN dispenses with all the time consuming details and cuts right to the bottom line with the information that may be of some use to the viewer.

The style of the ad was a professional looking black background with steady large white letters, reminiscent of the "Messages from God" posters that are cropping up in some parts of the country. The words say something like this: "Alarmed poultry predict calamity... CNN bottom line: Sky remains intact."

I'm trying to figure what to make of this. As much as I respect Ted Turner on many other dimensions, it seems like he's really missing the boat, here. I have no illusions that CNN is immune from the same spin pressures as other media, since I have noted their slant on on numerous other issues about which I have some background: vaccinations, schooling for children, the Gulf War...

My impression, in the past, has always been not that the media are corrupt to the core, and thus intentionally telling evil lies, but rather that they are shallow and skimming the surface... and that they are willing to buy the stories of supposed "experts" hook, line, and sinker.

This "chicken little" spot, though, seems particularly calculated and insidious. Without actually coming out and saying that Y2K-Warners are Chicken Little's, they're feeding that idea to the public. It's not possible to speak out against the spot, to other family members who may be watching TV with us, without seeming to have self identified as a Chicken Little.

This is quite disappointing. I believe CNN is perceived by many to be a rather highbrow source of information. If people believe CNN is branding preparers as mindless idiots, they will be less likely to begin making even minimal preparations, or to keep their heart in what little preparations they may have already begun.

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage.neener.autospammers--regrets.greenspun), August 30, 1999

Answers

" It's not possible to speak out against the spot, to other family members who may be watching TV with us, without seeming to have self identified as a Chicken Little."

This is particularly 'good' work...it not only subverts any rebuttal...I mean anyone can dispute what it was intended to mean: it's just a joke after all...why are you getting upset. But even more than that, the vagueness of it...with the key words gets under peoples wire ... i.e., below the conscious level. Every time they hear those key words associated to anything the pump has already been primed for ridicule of anyone associated with whatever concern is associated with those key words 'sky is falling'. It's a blanket program with many fill in the blank uses.

Scary stuff!

-- Shelia (Shelia@active-stream.com), August 30, 1999.

Dancr,

One thing that is important to remember is that CNN is now owned by Time-Warner, which through Time Magazine brought us the "Millennium Madness" piece last year, probably the baseline for Y2K concerned = whackos.

Ted Turner probably has very little, if anything, to do with CNN's editorial policy since selling to Time-Warner. In fact, I wouldn't be surpised if he totally gets it. My understanding is that he spends most of his time on his huge ranches where he raises bison.

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 30, 1999.

There are a whole series of CNN converted fairy tales to "news flashes." I don;t think that they are Y2K related at all. Certainly, I can't find a conspiracy in "Tortouse Beats Hare. Stuns Crowd."

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), August 30, 1999.

From: Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr near Monterey, California

UNLESS... they threw in those other fairytales just to throw you OFF! :>

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage.neener.autospammers--regrets.greenspun), August 30, 1999.

That would be the Clinton News Network.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), August 31, 1999.