Freedom of Choice?

The US election will get underway in several hours as I write this and will surely be done and put to bed by the time you are reading this, but I feel that I have legitimate gripe to make NOW before even I know the outcome of the elections (and before I go around paying out on my bets for John McCain).

I have been, as most of the US and a big chunk of the televisually linked world, keeping up with the presidential campaign through the most readily accessible means available to me: CNN. And each day I switch it on, I have been getting progressively more angry at them.

[POLITICAL INTERLUDE: My personal stance on the US election is not at stake here. I have chosen not to vote and therefore my opinion on who gets to sit in the Big Chair can have no meaning. Whether or not I think Obama is the Great White Hope (forgive this, please) or whether McCain could be a Safe Pair of Hands (which secretly I do...) has no bearing on my indignation against CNN.]

What is getting my goat (as well as the cow and few chickens) is the fact that CNN has unabashedly decided that Obama is the Man and that they have completely slanted their reporting to him - Obama stories, Obama history, Obama speeches, Obama family, Obama Africa... And the other guy (what's his name already?) gets as much coverage as Grass Growing contest in Kansas.

Although I have not counted exactly, it seems that every story about John McCain is smothered with ten about Barak Obama. As a television consumer, I know comparatively NOTHING about McCain from CNN. I have not learned about his life, his background, his supporters, or anything of relevance.

Why this bothers me is the issue of fairness of a broadcaster in informing the public. In this way, I have a beef with the Chicago Tribune, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and any other newspaper or broadcaster that has endorsed one candidate or the other. What happened to delivering the NEWS? I think we can be allowed to draw our own conclusions and make our own choices - not have them selected for us by Mr. Ted Turner and his political cartel cronies.

And while I believe I am a disinterested and objective media consumer, I can feel the insidious hand of CNN at work inside my brain. I just KNOW too much about Obama and too little about McCain for me to make an informed choice for president. I have been spoon-fed this information and now what else is there for me but to digest it?

Even in this photo (borrowed from CNN) you will see that McCain is on the left (sinister implications) while Obama is on the right (symbolic of consciousness and awareness according Jung ). And while I chose this photo at random - it was the first one I found - and it may not be an indication of all of their tactics, I find it ironic that it should be the first one I see.

CNN has not come out and officially backed Obama. They have not told their viewers that their news content will be deliberately slanted to him. In this way, they give the impression of being an objective media. This is manipulation according to my understanding.

Pure and simple.

I apologize to any Obama supporters who are reading this - I am sure he is a swell guy and would make a swell president. But I do not apologize to CNN for my anger at their blatant demagoguery and bias. They use their dominant position to spread their opinions. Given this, my faith in any news I see reported there has been seriously shaken.

There, I said it!