Tvnewser has a note ( http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnn-david-gergen-deal-with-bain-conflict_b138002, see text below) on how CNN is dealing (not very well, IMO) with David Gergen's conflict (what they call "awkward situation") - namely that he has had several relationships with Bain in the past, including giving several paid speeches and profiting from his role in a for-profit childcare company. This is all discussed in more detail in the HuffPo article the tvnewser note links to at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/18/david-gergen-bain-capital-cnn_n_1682257.html?1342624211 .
If we still took CNN seriously as a provider of reliable news this report would be very disturbing. Gergin has weighed in on Bain matters throughout the Republican nominating process, defending Romney and Bain from attacks by both his Republican opponents (remember when they were the ones hitting hard on Bain?) and by Obama. Apparently, through most of that time he did not disclose his conflict of interest (though apparently occasionally he did). The conflict was so unknown that when the Obama campaign recently ramped up its Bain line of attack, focusing on the discrepancy between Romney's claim not to have been a decision-maker at Bain after early 1999 and signed SEC filings showing that he was the CEO and President, a CNN producer asked Gergin to do some "reporting" on the issue, apparently (according to the producer now) unaware of Gergin's prior relationship with Bain. Gergin called a few of his old Bain associates, asked them about it, and then went on the air to say that the Obama criticism was unfair and not founded in the facts. The "facts" apparently were that his Bain-buddies told him that Romney was not involved in the decisions to close down American companies they bought and outsource jobs overseas (I am not sure what Gergin did with the facts that Romney was indeed listed as CEO and President, and being paid at least $100,000 a year for these services) thorough 2002). This past Monday Gergin did disclose his conflict on the Cooper show before again defending Bain, and as noted above appears to have occasionally disclosed the conflict in the past. Gergin has long been a multi-limbed creature with tentacles entwined with political and business interests in both parties, though mostly in mainline Republican operations. It can be argued that any viewer who takes his analysis as in anyway objective or independent has only their own stupidity and naivete to blame I suppose. But as the HuffPost piece points out, the conflicts of interests between TV "news" pundits and the financial industry goes beyond Gergin, and extends to ex-political players on both sides of the aisle. Since one of the main issues in the coming election is shaping up to be the role and shape of the US Financial industry and US tax and financial policy, this deeply embedded conflict of interest is a particular threat. At the very least all such commentators must disclose their conflict *EVERY* time they discuss these issues on air, and news programs must broaden their panel of "experts" to include voices from outside the management of the industry. The first might happen, if enough attention gets paid to this, the second no doubt will not. *********************** http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnn-david-gergen-deal-with-bain-conflict_b138002 CNN political analyst *David Gergen<http://www.mediabistro.com/David-Gergen-profile.html> * is in something of an awkward situation when it comes to the network’s coverage of Bain Capital, and *Mitt Romney*‘s role there. As The Huffington Post’s* Michael Calderone* writes, Gergen was directly involved with Bain in the past,<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/18/david-gergen-bain-capital-cnn_n_1682257.html?1342624211>and benefited financially from some of its moves. CNN is ensuring that Gergen is disclosing his relationship with Bain, though the complicated nature of it makes it tough to distill in a few seconds of airtime. Gergen made disclosures during recent appearances on “Anderson Cooper 360,” where he described the Obama campaign’s attacks on Bain as “way off-base” and “ill-founded.” Bain, he told Cooper, is “very well regarded in Boston.” That’s a position Gergen’s taken before, with or without being clear about the extent of his past financial relationships with Bain. In looking at Gergen’s previous, largely praise-worthy analysis of Bain during the 2012 election cycle, the CNN analyst has, at times, noted some relationship to Bain while also neglecting to do so on air when lauding the company. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
