Wednesday, February 01, 2006
An Open Letter To Paula Zahn
January 31, 2006
Ms. Paula Zahn
Cable News Network
One CNN Center
P.O. Box 105366
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-5366
Dear Ms. Zahn:
Your commentary this evening during "The Situation Room" coverage of the President's State of the Union address was irresponsible, incorrect, and just plain bad journalism (to the extent that such commentary can even be considered true journalism). You should retract your statements and apologize to the network's viewers without delay.
To refresh your memory, I am referring to your comments about Democrats and national security during the "Strategy Session" portion of "The Situation Room." You said, "you've got a lot of people out there saying, if you're Republican, we're going to keep the country safe, you know, if you vote for a Democrat, that basically you want to be bombed."
Mere words cannot express my outrage at such a foolish comment. From a journalistic standpoint, can you identify that "lot of people" saying these things? Can you even identify one person saying such things? Can you identify a single American, regardless of party, that wants "to be bombed" in any kind of attack? I suspect that you cannot. Instead, you are simply repeating tired GOP talking points.
I am a Democrat. I do not want to be "bombed." I assure you that everyone else identifying themselves as Democrats also do not want to be "bombed." We love our country as much as anyone else and we value our safety as much as anyone else. We may not agree with Republican tactics, but that doesn't mean we harbor some masochistic desire to be "bombed." You should remember that September 11, 2001, fell during a Republican president's term. This same Republican president has failed to bring the people responsible for that fateful day's attacks to justice in spite of his promise to find them "dead or alive."
I do hope that your comments are not some vain effort to outfox, as the case may be, your competition. Monday night's ratings put you in fourth place among cable news anchors. Bill O'Reilly brought in 595,000 viewers, Nancy Grace brought in 258,000 viewers, and Keith Olbermann brought in 229,000 viewers while you brought in only 208,000. Comments like those you made last night are sure to only keep you at the bottom of the heap.
Your comments have made me lose all faith in CNN's political coverage. I will watch future events like the State of the Union address on C-SPAN. I don't have to put up with silly talking heads there.
I thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I hope you will do the honorable thing and apologize for your gross error.
Sincerely yours,
Daniel Melder
Lampasas, Texas
Ms. Paula Zahn
Cable News Network
One CNN Center
P.O. Box 105366
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-5366
Dear Ms. Zahn:
Your commentary this evening during "The Situation Room" coverage of the President's State of the Union address was irresponsible, incorrect, and just plain bad journalism (to the extent that such commentary can even be considered true journalism). You should retract your statements and apologize to the network's viewers without delay.
To refresh your memory, I am referring to your comments about Democrats and national security during the "Strategy Session" portion of "The Situation Room." You said, "you've got a lot of people out there saying, if you're Republican, we're going to keep the country safe, you know, if you vote for a Democrat, that basically you want to be bombed."
Mere words cannot express my outrage at such a foolish comment. From a journalistic standpoint, can you identify that "lot of people" saying these things? Can you even identify one person saying such things? Can you identify a single American, regardless of party, that wants "to be bombed" in any kind of attack? I suspect that you cannot. Instead, you are simply repeating tired GOP talking points.
I am a Democrat. I do not want to be "bombed." I assure you that everyone else identifying themselves as Democrats also do not want to be "bombed." We love our country as much as anyone else and we value our safety as much as anyone else. We may not agree with Republican tactics, but that doesn't mean we harbor some masochistic desire to be "bombed." You should remember that September 11, 2001, fell during a Republican president's term. This same Republican president has failed to bring the people responsible for that fateful day's attacks to justice in spite of his promise to find them "dead or alive."
I do hope that your comments are not some vain effort to outfox, as the case may be, your competition. Monday night's ratings put you in fourth place among cable news anchors. Bill O'Reilly brought in 595,000 viewers, Nancy Grace brought in 258,000 viewers, and Keith Olbermann brought in 229,000 viewers while you brought in only 208,000. Comments like those you made last night are sure to only keep you at the bottom of the heap.
Your comments have made me lose all faith in CNN's political coverage. I will watch future events like the State of the Union address on C-SPAN. I don't have to put up with silly talking heads there.
I thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I hope you will do the honorable thing and apologize for your gross error.
Sincerely yours,
Daniel Melder
Lampasas, Texas
