Hey CNN! Where's My TV Gig?
Dear Sam Feist, CNN Political Director Jim Walton, President CNN Worldwide:
I have to ask, where's my CNN gig?
I mean, you've made the decision to hire Erick Erickson of RedState, so clearly, you've understood that bloggers reach out to many politically engaged Americans and tap into a market for an cable outlet that is struggling to compete.
Smart move. Bloggers are outside the Beltway cocktail circuit. We're informed, we can get to the heart of the issue quickly and we're not afraid to be confrontational at times, which makes for good television.
But Erick Erickson? With all due respect, why?
Because I don't know if you've watched the news in the last few years, but there are few less in touch with the pulse of America than Erickson. We have a Democratic president, Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress and overwhelming support for Democratic--nay, for liberal solutions. The country isn't center-right, no matter how many times Rush Limbaugh or Lou Dobbs tells you it is (oh wait, is that a sore spot for you? Sorry.). Americans have pretty much told Washington that we tried the conservative way and we didn't like the results. It's disheartening that so few in the media seemed to have picked up on that message, and it's clear you didn't, since you hired a reactionary conservative like Erickson.
So I come back to where's my gig? I think I'm as likely a choice as Erick Erickson and in many ways, a better business choice. I'm educated, articulate, snarky, and unafraid to defend my political stances, all traits you need and want in a television commentator. Moreover, I'm committed to facts and context and I'm capable of having a discussion with someone with whom I disagree without pulling facts from my posterior region, insulting them or wishing them harm or death, something you'll NEVER see from Erickson (did you even read his blog before hiring him?).
So unlike Erick, I actually can speak for a large majority of Americans--instead of a waning, increasingly irrelevant bunch of fringe players easily manipulated by astroturf organizations seeking to benefit corporations over Americans and I can do it in a civilized manner, something this country has also said they'd like to see more of.
I'd say that I'm cuter than Erick Erickson (television is a visual medium, after all), but I recognize that's a pretty subjective statement. Maybe you feel that conservative, puffy, middle-aged, bloviating, angry, privileged white men are underrepresented on your channel. I come from a website with at least as much traffic and influence as RedState (not to put too fine a point on it, but RedState isn't even on the list), if not more (Erick keeps his traffic stats close to the vest--the easier to puff up your counts that way), and we've managed to achieve that without corporate funding, unlike RedState, so I do bring an audience share with me as well.
But most importantly, I've been on the right correct side of issues far more often than Erickson. Hell, I've been correct more often than ALL of your conservative commentators put together. Go ahead. Line up my posts next to Erickson's and let's see who really reports facts and who just catapults the propaganda.
Wait a second, Messrs. Feist and Walton, let's look at your statement about Erickson's hire:
"Erick's a perfect fit for John King, USA, because not only is he an agenda-setter whose words are closely watched in Washington, but as a person who still lives in small-town America, Erick is in touch with the very people John hopes to reach," said Sam Feist, CNN political director and vice president of Washington-based programming. "With Erick's exceptional knowledge of politics, as well as his role as a conservative opinion leader, he will add an important voice to CNN's ideologically diverse group of political contributors." [CNN's Political Ticker, 3/16/10]
So by your own admission, you WANT to reach crazy, factually-challenged, threatening conservatives in a country that is struggling with some of the nastiest, most bigoted and most violent rhetoric seen in decades. Interesting.
Well, actually, if that's the kind of audience you're seeking, maybe I'm not the right person for the job.
However, if you ever get serious about actually wanting a fact-based and ideologically diverse group of contributors--rather than the lip-service you pay it now, you can always reach me through this site.
Sincerely,
Nicole Belle
who follows orders you can get on CNN.
Hey nice to meet you okay let's go to makeup and while your doing that here's the script for today's show and what you can say and can't say. Oh! When your done in makeup the waiting room is there. Coffee and donuts are available. Okay who's next come on we're busy today let's move along!
CEASAR... give us nicole!!!
CNN has made a commitment to the angry non-thinking paranoid throngs that Fox has garnered the last few years.
Please send your resume to MSNBC.
that's the ticket. Good morning and your on what show today? Oh okay your going to room B. And from there you'll go to C. After C you'll go to makeup and costumes . .
they dumped Lou.
of put you on Lou! (Only my makeup artists knows for sure.)
This is meant with all due respect and as a compliment: The first thing I thought when I saw that picture was: Betty Rubble.
;)
His memo must mean that John King also is one of the "crazy, factually-challenged, threatening conservatives in a country that is struggling with some of the nastiest, most bigoted and most violent rhetoric seen in decades," because he said Erick is a perfect fit for John....
And why would anyone want to spell their name "Erick"? Isn't that a bit Marxist?... Oh...
...he uses big words like 'particularly' and 'delicatessen.' -- Jack
I completely agree. I think CNN is just too afraid to go against the right wing grain. Don't know WHAT they are going to do when the Healthcare Reform starts and they see just how many people reject conservative (and I use the term lightly) thought processes. For non-elitists, that means thinking.
I would jump at the chance to see Nicole Bell in action. I have been reading her writing for a year or so and am continually amazed at how spot on she consistently is.
ps, you're WAY cuter than Erick Erickson!
:)
but i agree
:)
It's so nice to finally see a photo of her.
blush?
But just for the record, plus 1 to all above.
Count me in. Very pretty.
You know it's not going to do anything because viewers have a 2 second attention span. Whats the point?
But I'd rather see way fewer commentators of any political stripe, and much more actual news. If any analysis needs to be done, topical experts with relevant research experience can surely be found (i.e., not Bill Kristol). The "news" has become way more about blowing hard and way less about factual reporting. Dragnet said it best - "Just the fax, man."
CNN is weak.
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
"..CNN's ideologically diverse group of political contributors."
"diverse".rrrrrrrright.
For the record Nicole I'd tune in to see your friendly smile every night.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
but if,as I suspect, CNN has decided to go after Fox News viewership they are going to be looking for someone a little less aggressive than Alan Colmes to present the view from the left. Unless you're willing to have your spine removed I don't think you have a shot.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Nicole, you can do SO much better than that - CNN is the acknowledged dregs of news programs (Faux - not being a news program, does NOT count) - I can't think of a worse news gig.
My progressive station, WCPT in Chicago area, uses CNN news and I actually wrote to them to complain about the right-biased coverage. They SUCK.
*
Corporate monopolies are not the best place for strong progressives to be.
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
But forget about CNN. When is C&L gonna put Nicole front and center for it's own Sunday morning bobbleheads?
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Does Playboy still have their own cable news station?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
That only lasted a little while. Every one who watched kept screaming "Take it off!"
http://www.turner.com/careers/
The warmth in your smile is my dream of dreams .
every time you throw a little mud , you lose a little ground .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LPA8fBcWwc
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
How will you be able to convince people you're an actual journalist if you start appearing on CNN?
You should just start your own cable channel. Call it the Looks & Brains Channel. :-)
I mean, other than the fact that I agree wholeheartedly, could you kiss any more ass?
;D
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
I think I've just fallen in love... look! It's springtime out there.
liberals no longer watch the cable news stations...they dont have to
they know how to use the net
its retarded, wingnut fucks that still watch....cuz they are to fat and lazy to get their asses off their couches
that is why erich the ahole was hired
and why nicole will not be
Exactly. CNN VPs are not smart enough to fix their demographics by adding interesting programming, only can appeal to same viewers as Faux news. Fact is there is very little interesting to educated professionals on CNN.
'Men do not go to the gallows and put their heads in a noose if they can avoid it.' - Mark Twain
Sorry Nicole, but your facts and reality based truthiness, would be like kryptonite to the corporate MSM.
And that's not in their interests.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
But if you got a CNN gig, what would I do with my white hood I wear when EriKKKson?
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
I'm so glad to finally see what you look like Nicole. I think you're onto something here, and although I suspect you're being snarky to make a point, I'm sure that with your looks and brains and TV-friendly name you'd make a great commentator.
But CNN has obviously decided that news is not their strong suit, much less unbiased commentary. I never had cable until about 10 years ago, and started watching CNN all the time. It disgusts me what's happened to it. It's an absolute cesspool now.
A few years ago I wrote Aaron Brown a letter when I found out he was teaching at ASU. I told him how much I missed his presence on CNN. Surprisingly, he responded with a very nice email and told me he's much happier now and loves what he's doing. That made me feel good for him, and it's a comfort knowing that there are decent people still teaching journalism. But sadly, anyone with real journalistic credentials will likely never find a place on TV any more. The few like Rachel Maddow that get through hardly keep pace with the lost souls who populate most of it.
It would be great if you wanted to pursue this through other means though. Seems like a wonderful idea to me.
I just wanted to make a point about media bias.
I figgered you'd look like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j1lBFaYv70&fe...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwcV8p5TaPI&fe...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Slightly more operatic looking than I would ever claim to be.
I think some here are missing the point. It's not about Nicole wanting to get on CNN but about CNN getting a bozo like Erick Erickson. He's a fucktard!
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
I don't give a toss.
Wow. Who would have thought that Crooks&Liars is in love with mainstream media? And with CNN! the most plastic of plastics.
Oh and btw, I have been following this blog since 2004 (despite my recent membership) and practically all you do now is cosy up to liberal talking points.
You used to expose the media, now you're just a mouthpiece for them.
Baaaawwwww!
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
I don't give a toss.
Think snark.
This WAS intended to expose the media.
clever, but I stand by my points.
Your point is?
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
I don't give a toss.
It just tells me that you're missing the picture.
There is no love of mainstream media in this piece. I've called them out for their bias, for their tendency to overlook women and minorities in the commentator class and for their completely ridiculous pushing of talking points from a single point of view.
This exposes all of that.
But I guess doing it in a satirical fashion is a little too hard for you to comprehend.
I get it, it's a jokesy, satirical, what if? dig at CNN. But at the same time, don't you think you and C&L have been getting pretty cosy with the MSM lately? I have hardly heard you attack Obama despite the fact that he has ignored a TON of campaign promises and appears to be trampling the constitution even harder than Bush.
So the picture at the top may look innocent, but there really IS a bit of truth to this satire don't you think?
and by truth I mean selling-out
Cute!
poppycock!
Feck off to red state!
You silly lovely person.
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
I don't give a toss.
I am beginning to think that "selling out" is the liberal version of "marxist/socialist/maoist" etc. You don't know what it actually means, it just sounds really bad to you.
If you don't think I've been critical of Obama, you've not been paying attention. I haven't been happy with his performance and have said so on numerous occasions. However, it gets boring writing the same thing day after day, so I like to vary it with a little more than "Obama hasn't kept his campaign promises."
I'm not cosy with the MSM. I've been quite disdainful of them, in fact, and I think others reading this can tell you that this is quite sneering of them too.
But go ahead, keep stomping your feet because Obama isn't the liberal you insisted he was during the primary. I said back then he wasn't and I got nothing but shit over it on this site.
he/she was a hit and run. We've been getting a few of them today.
It's always the same purity concern trolling.
From someone who doesn't quite get that Ron Paul is of the right, because Mr. Bot isn't really all that up on America the way it is, but the way he perceives it from...somewhere else. Because, ya see, there's no left-right paradigm, but RonPaulTroofAlexJones....
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
You people have no imagination. It's not "purity concern". More like stupidity concern.
Sustainable communities can't be legislated. Ron Paul at least understands the importance of individual responsibility and accountability. That's what's missing today. It's not that complicated. The media likes to make it so.
People need to realise that popular 'ideologies' do not connect them to an effective organisational force. They are used to ensnare and trap people. People spend their lives dolling out misinformation and they don't know it. They may even benefit - because misinformation is a protected business in today's America.
And yes it makes me angry. And I try to tell people. This is my activism. I don't enjoy having to write long winded posts to people I'll never meet.
...calling them stupid.
You opened up a big can of irony there when mentioning sustainable communities, the importance of individual responsibility and Ron Paul in the same paragraph. Paul isn't just a supporter of states rights but of the rights of local communities to govern themselves via the absolute rule of the majority, compelling interests be damned. Screw the rights of minorities of any sort. Are you in the 5% of a community that has different color skin from the 95% majority who have decided that your kids don't rate acceptance into the schools? Too bad. Are you a lesbian in a predominantly evangelical Christian town that has outlawed your lifestyle? Too bad, move or go to jail on indecency charges. This is Ron Paul world.
Do you think I'm making this up? Read up on the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, the legal theories of equal protection and incorporation of the Bill of Rights, Madison v. Marbury....And then read Paul's biennial piece of pet legislation, known here as HR 300.
This is conservative, Republican legislation from top to bottom. If you think Ron Paul is above partisanship, you're full of shit. That the margins of the right and left are able to find commonality in their paranoid fantasies concerning those who occupy the political ground in between them proves nothing except that they've been marginalized for good reason- they're fucking nuts.
And how did I come to know this? I live here, in the US. Have for my entire life. I've been paying attention to what's going on around me for nearly 45 years now.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
This is ridiculous. Why do I have to address a bill Ron Paul introduced? I don't agree with the bill, but how does that invalidate my points?
Saying YOU PEOPLE so damn much?
Well, you people are blah blah blah,
feck orrff
What is your conceptual, continuity?
I'm talking about C&L in general. This site used to be about exposing hypocrisy. But now it is hypocritically partisan.
Do you even know what you are saying? Have you seen your shrink lately?
yes sir, C&L is going partisan up yo arse!
Weeee!1!2%
Wanker!
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
I don't give a toss.
Good lord.
There's no lord!
"A storm is coming, our storm, and when it arrives it will shake the universe"
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
I don't give a toss.
This post is about exposing hypocrisy. There's all sorts of posts exposing hypocrisy on this site.
And we've always been unapologetically partisan.
The problem is that we're not doing the posts YOU want us to do. We're not trashing Obama with every post so now you think we're "selling out." We're cozy with the MSM.
Bullshit. We're doing what we've always done. If you think you can do better exposing hypocrisy, get your own blog and do it.
Oh jeez, with replies like this how do you ever think CNN will hire you?
/snark
are you talking about? Cozy with the MSM? I thought you said you've been following C&L for a few years.
the troll done gave himself away.
Howzit goin ron.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
where do you normally post your comments? You appear to be the typical troll who comes here then disappears.
huge plus to add some sanity and honesty to the the MSM.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
they dont care about the news they are in business to make money and lots of it.
the news took a trip a long time ago.
tell the american people what they want to hear and make tons of it money that is.
example tell them we are in a recession not a decline of wealth.
tell them we are winning in iraq.
tell them that they are fair and balanced.
most americans are dumb enough to think they get the real news in the world.
the news is designed to control you for further use of corp fascism for greater profits. even off the sick and needy and the supreme court call these corp facists a person. if they were a person they are evil to the core.
corp fascism nows controls congress, white house, war machine, industrial war complex, universities, supreme court, reelection process, media, health insurance, need I go on.
and you folks that voted for reagan believed him when he said what is good for corp america is good for all americans. gotcha.
the tea baggers are so dumb they are bought and paid for by corp fascism and they are protesting for corp america that controls congress which they hate. that is dumber than dumb. ok stupid there I said it.
in a dumbed downed society corp america has a cake walk like taking candy from a baby. of course the baby will cry like americans cry but they dont have a clue a capitalist system is designed to do exactly what it is doing.
make the middle class third world workers to enhance corp profits.
I am trying to figure out who on CNN actually represents the left, or even a little of the more progressive side of America. I have given up watching because I usually just get PO.
That's far from the truth and you should know that.
With all the Hollywood liberal elite in our pockets, the musicians and artists, the scientists and professors, the comedians and writers we could find someway to bank roll a real news network.
Imagine it done
rightah, properly. Killer comedy in the vein of The Daily Show, Colbert, Letterman and SNL. Serious, honest analysis and debate, liberals do it better than anyone for the simple reason that we can disagree among ourselves in a respectful manner. We are certainly not afraid to talk to a conservative so maybe there could even be a conservative show (one truly fair and balanced!!).There could be science shows with an entertainment twist ala Mythbusters. New music could be featured, music which mysteriously gets no radio play. Imagine a news network that doesn't have to resort to filler.
I don't think this is wishful daydreaming either. With enough investment in money and talent this could be a billion dollar cash cow. The only thing it would require by way of risk is a total courage of conviction. And I mean total, as in name it Liberal Media for a Center Left Nation in big bold letters. Then let them attack liberal media and you can go 'duh, its in the title dumbass!'But alas, I believe this is the one obstacle for this idea.
All the big moneyed libs are scared of the blow back. Except it would come from the same Fox idiots that go apoplectic when they do anything individually. So whats the difference if they want to really help people. Power in numbers people, the more investors the better.
Oh, how I wish I was a mover and shaker. I'd take the country by the shoulders and smack it around like Nicholson did to Dunaway in Chinatown. Its good metaphor except for how it ended. We want to avoid that. (fyi: Nicholson wasn't smacking Dunaway around for sexist reasons, she was lying to him, he was treating her like any PI would treat any dude with info he needed. He stopped because she was getting hysterical-watch the movie you'll get it, classic scene)
It has been a little while now, has CNN gotten back to you???? lol
Excellent 'Throw-Down' letter to the Crappy News Network. Has CNN tendered an offer to James O'Queef yet or is he still Andrew Brietbart's top working girl?
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