CNN’s Obnoxious Hypocrisy

CNN's Carol Costello

Lately I’ve found CNN to be the most consistently interesting and amusing cable news station on the air.

Unfortunately it’s NOT because of Fareed Zakaria’s always interesting take on Sunday mornings, or the now departed Howard Kurtz’ media analysis, no, sadly it’s because of a couple of deeply disingenuous hosts – daytime’s Carol Costello and prime time’s Erin Burnett.

BOTH these anchors, like many in the media are seemingly obsessed with race, but unlike most in the media, they approach the subject in the most mottled, even dishonest way.

In fact, their coverage of the race issue in America has left me puzzled. I have to confess that what I saw of Michael Dunn, I DID NOT like. He couldn't help himself, but he came off as an arrogant, imperious, pompous jerk...much like the majority of those in the media, Ms. Costello and Ms. Burnett being two prime examples.

Is it possible that both hosts see a bit of themselves in Michael Dunn? I’d object only in that Michael Dunn (a software developer) is probably quite a bit smarter than anyone at CNN or most other media outlets, but personality-wise, yes, there are definitely some similar personality traits Dunn shares with most “on-air news talent.”

If so, perhaps that’s why both Carol Costello and Erin Burnett, in particular seem to go out of their way to undermine the accepted media meme on race – “black victim, white abuser.”

As an example, in discussing the trial of Michael Dunn (the most recent media race sensation), in response to the observation, “Michael Dunn, like many white Americans might have had an unreasonable fear of young black males,” one of Ms. Costello’s expert legal guests left this out there completely unchallenged, “All groups, not just whites have a very reasonable fear of young black males, because young black males commit such a disproportionate share of the violent crime in America.”

He then went on to quote the FBI’s crime stats and Justice surveys, which, among other things allegedly showed that;

— "Blacks commit more violent crime against whites than against other blacks." Forty-five percent of the victims of violent crime by blacks are white folks, 43 percent are black, 10 percent are Hispanic.

— “Blacks are seven times as likely as people of other races to commit murder, eight times more likely to commit robbery and three times more likely to use a gun in a crime.

— "Blacks are an estimated 39 times more likely to commit violent crime against a white person than vice versa, and 136 times more likely to commit robbery.

— “Black-on-white rape is 115 times more common than the reverse.

- “Even the two most famous sexual assaults by white men on black women in the last two decades the Tawana Brawley and Duke rape cases — turned out to be hoaxes.”

He went on to say, “What do these statistics tell us? A message most will not report. The real repository of racism in America — manifest in violent interracial assault, rape and murder is NOT to be found in the white community, but the African-American community. In almost all interracial attacks, whites are the victims, not the victimizers.”

Perhaps the reason that wasn't confronted by Ms. Costello or ANY other CNN host is because it’s absolutely and unequivocally true. I looked those stats up AFTER that CNN broadcast and YES...they are all very true. They can all very easily be found in a report titled “The Color of Crime.” (http://www.colorofcrime.com/colorofcrime2005.pdf). CNN isn't the ONLY media outlet NOT to have challenged that report, so far as I know, it has NEVER once been challenged by anyone from any media outlet.

STILL, that begs the question, “Do these particular hosts deliberately bring on guests to undermine the very views that have been the staple of the American media to date, that “African-Americans are disproportionately victims of white racism”?

After all, CNN is the SAME channel that brought up the killing of David James during the Trayvon Martin trial, AGAIN, with at least one legal guest describing the murder of white Air Force Corpsman David James by black homeowner Trevor Dooley as “an out-and-out race murder,” without that assertion being questioned.

In that case, I’d never even heard of the David James murder in Florida, not Trevor Dooley’s failed “Stand-Your-Ground” defense, but AGAIN, after looking it up, it seems EXACTLY what that CNN guest relayed. (http://www.truecrimereport.com/2010/09/david_james_air_force_veteran.php)

In this regard CNN has become the primary disseminator of a form of race realism.

Now I commend them on that, while I DO question the disingenuous way in which it is delivered, one that allows hosts like Ms. Costello and Ms. Burnett to remain above the fray, while giving no context to such assertions by their very carefully chosen “guests.”