TEA PARTIES IN THE NEWS

Mona Charen has an interesting column at Townhall.com:

One reporter, Susan Roesgen, who "covered" the Chicago tea party for CNN, was downright confrontational with attendees she interviewed, challenging a protestor who referenced Abraham Lincoln with "What does this have to do with taxes?" The man attempted to explain. But the reporter interrupted him. "Did you know that you are eligible for a $400 rebate? Did you know that your state, the state of Lincoln, gets $50 billion out of the stimulus? That's $50 billion for your state." She then tossed back to the anchor noting that "This is really not family viewing."

Founding Bloggers attended the Chicago tea party and shot its own footage of Rosegen continuing to argue with the protesters, which it posted in a YouTube video, preceded by the footage aired by CNN.

It was later reported that CNN forced YouTube to take down the version of Rosegen's performance and also removed at least one version of the Founding Bloggers video, even though it included footage shot by Founding Bloggers in which CNN obviously could have no copyright.

Now the Founding Blogger' video is back.



PowerLine comments:

It is hard to avoid the inference that in this case, CNN was motivated not by a desire to protect its intellectual property but by a desire to avoid embarrassment caused by the unprofessional performance of its reporter. In today's world, though, it just isn't possible to track down all copies of a video and suppress them, when the video relates to a matter of broad and legitimate public interest. That CNN is willing to make the attempt reveals something, perhaps, about its attitude toward the public's right to be informed.

CNN: “You have the right to be informed of anything we approve of.”