"Racist" Fox News vs. fake news CNN (Fox News retracts story "mocking" Olympic diversity)
I'm a conservative so CNN is not my thing. More to that, I'm Polish so my exposure to CNN is mainly through the internet and sometimes through a Polish TV station - TVN (they use CNN material often). Does CNN deserve being called "fake news"? Well... they have strong liberal bias and they've produced few stories edited in a way that produces a false image, but they can't be that bad, right? All in all, virtually all news outlets have a clear bias and virtually all have had some slips, so when I saw yesterday a CNN video within my list of recommended videos on a right-hand side of Youtube website I thought I'll give it a shot.
Here's the video in question, titled "Fox News retracts story mocking Olympic diversity"
Whoa... It started strong right off the bat. 5 seconds in and I've already got assured what kind of news I am watching. "President who has defended some Neo-Nazis"? Ok, never mind. Let's keep watching. 4 minutes later I was checking the comments. There is one reading "Wow, so on point with this one! Anderson was hilarious and accurate." with 165 likes. I replied, "I could agree if not for starting off by lies about Trump defending Neo-Nazis unless I'm missing something.". I got a reply it is about Charlottesville, just like I thought it is. I still might be missing something, but I watched Hunter Avallone's retort to TYT on the very topic which clearly shows Trump disavowed Nazism and violence and exposes TYT's twisted narrative. From that Cooper's talk it seems to me that applies to CNN very well too, but if You want to argue, please leave a comment below.
Let's move to the main topic. Why was Fox editor so moody? Does he really like Winter Olympics like his orthodonture? Those were some cool jokes, by the way. I see why some people like Cooper. There is only a question are the jokes accurate. Surely, Cooper used a citation from the article in question @1:02. That's good. Then he continues with criticising the motto, which appears to Moody as what U.S. Olympic Committee would have intended: 'Darker, Gayer, Different'. Ugly motto indeed. But how did Moody's dirty, racist mind come up with it? Let's find out.
The article in question has been taken down. It must have been outrageous if even Fox News took it down, right? Fortunately (at least in this case) what got once published on the internet doesn't disappear so easily. After another commenter posted a link to an archived version of the story in question (thank You, Percival Hans) I thought I'll read it. Really short article. Take a look for Yourself, making sure You also check a referenced WP article (linked to with words "quoted this week"). The most interesting part of the referenced article is probably:
Yes, USOC officials are pleased the team includes more African Americans and Asian Americans — and even the first two openly gay men — than recent winter squads. But they also realize this year’s U.S. Olympic team, not unlike those of most other nations gathering in PyeongChang this week, is still overwhelmingly white.
“We’re not quite where we want to be,” said Jason Thompson, the USOC’s director of diversity and inclusion. “. . . I think full-on inclusion has always been a priority of Team USA. I think everybody’s always felt it should represent every American.”
Are worries of USOC’s director of diversity and inclusion (ever heard of that position?) justified? Isn't worrying US team "is still overwhelmingly white" a bit weird? After that, WP article continues with what Moody described as
a, frankly, embarrassing laundry list of how many African-Americans, Asians and openly gay athletes are on this year’s U.S. team. No sport that we are aware of awards points – or medals – for skin color or sexual orientation.
Those are strong words, but I'm sure there is plenty of PoC who would agree with Moody. Sports should be about appreciation of great skills and cheering up for Your team. Fans of basketball enjoy watching NBA, as this is probably World's strongest league. I don't think many white or Asian people have an issue with blacks being majority there. Most fans, whatever their skin color is, have a favorite NBA player being black. I have never heard anyone claiming NBA doesn't represent every American, yet Jason Thompson suggests U.S. Olympic Team doesn't represent every American based on race and sexual orientation? That's pretty divisive to say the least, if not racist and bigoted.
Back to Anderson's take, I have 0 issues with him at 2:07-2:26 part of the CNN's video. That part explains what the article was about, although not without 2 minutes long preface of mocking and speculation. I don't mind the mocking, but there were many dishonest claims, starting @0:40 with "In his opinion, it seems, team USA is too darn diverse". If not for "it seems" part, I'd consider this a slander. Similarly with a joke having "apparently" in it. Where were the claims like that? To me, Moody is "colorblind". He stated clearly that race shouldn't be a consideration in sports and achieving more diversity shouldn't be a goal - only going "faster, better, stronger" should be - pure meritocracy. That's quite the opposite of racism. Surely Moody's take is exaggerated and his imagination went wild with suggestions how alleged lack of diversity could be "fixed". The USOC's claim was just a starting point. But does it justify Anderson's take on Moody and calling him racist? I don't know is it unprofessionalism, lack of reading skills, strong bias, or rather a willful misrepresentation to push CNN agenda and slander competition (despite Cooper's claim he likes to avoid "cable news sniping"). Whatever that was, looks like "in this case, he just couldn't let it go", indeed.
To be honest, I checked that CNN video with an open mind. I didn't expect the story to be so misrepresentative. I've been subscribed to Mark Dice on Youtube and I'm a bit tired by his clownish mocking of CNN ad nauseam (although I have to say some of his takes on CNN were gold). To me that Cooper's video is just as blatantly false as other stories I know CNN has been mocked for. Maybe just my luck, maybe this video got recommended to me by Youtube because of some viewers with similar taste to mine watched it knowing it's a fake story. I don't know, but it made me a bit more reassured CNN deserves its title of fake news.
I have seen some takes on conservative news outlets, like Fox News, showing their bias or lack of professionality on some occasions. But I have seen no fake story by those. If You have any, please leave a comment. On CNN there is plenty of videos. I really liked that one:
I think it's crucial to be skeptical about what MSM say, whether they are left or right wing, but CNN seems to be really gifted in producing a twisted image. I have to say Cooper is quite a funny folk, but when his jokes are based on lies or misrepresentation, that doesn't look good.
A pity Fox News took the article down (but gladly there is archived version). To me, the story is not racist - quite the contrary. A great retort to USOC official's statement suggesting that color of the skin is more important than the skills, imho. At first I thought the article defends itself. It only takes to read it with comprehension. Although after exchanging few comments with another YouTuber I see how the Moody's take can cause some outrage. Still, I don't thing Anderson's comment does justice to this article, hence my entry. What's Your opinion?
Footnote: In this post I didn't touch the topic of "a diversity scorecard" Thompson mentioned. I haven't heard about this before, but I've done a bit of research and I find it an interesting topic. I might write a follow up on that.