BUSTED! CNN Admits That On-Air Commentator Has Ties To Insurance Industry, Promises Full Disclosure

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/cnn-admits-that-on-air-commentator-worked-for-insurance-industry-promises-full-disclosure/

CNN Admits That On-Air Commentator Has Ties To Insurance Industry, Promises Full Disclosure


Looks like the insurance industry has another PR mess on its hands.

CNN has acknowledged in a statement to me that a high-profile Republican commentator who frequently discusses health care on the air is also the media buyer for one of the ad campaigns bankrolled by America’s Health Insurance Plans, the major industry trade group currently waging war against the White House and Dem reform proposals.

CNN tells me his ties to the industry will be disclosed in the future.

The CNN contributor, well-known GOP consultant Alex Castellanos, is best known for producing the racially-charged “Hands” ad, has repeatedly appeared on the network attacking Dem health care plans and the public option, which is strongly opposed by AHIP.

Castellanos’s consulting firm, National Media, also recently placed over $1 million of TV advertising for AHIP, according to info obtained by Media Matters. AHIP’s most recent $1 million ad buy attacks the health care plan as a threat to Medicare.

This connection, you’d think, should be disclosed whenever Castellanos appears on CNN discussing health care. Asked for comment, CNN spokesperson Edie Emery acknowledged the tie and promised full disclosure in the future. She emailed:



CNN doesn’t appear to have known about Castellano’s work, and this is not the first time outside help retained by AHIP in the health care wars has created a PR mess. AHIP took heavy criticism after the firm it retained to release a study faulting the reform proposals publicly undercut its own findings.

In the case of the CNN mess, it may not really have been AHIP’s responsibility to disclose Castellano’s work for the group. But Dems may jump on this to point out that the industry has enlisted some pretty unsavory help in its war against the reform proposals.

Yep, they are a NEWS organization. That literally has NO relevant investigative journalism worth a shit.

like the plane down on the Hudson, I have not watched their station for three plus years now. I really liked jack Cafferty and used to email answers to his daily questions and even had two of my replies read on air but I can't take all the bullshit and outright lies from the rest of them to watch anymore.

came right out of the RW Christian movement. Used to work for either Robertson or Falwell, can't remember which. Is always willing to be out in front of the rahrah crowd for war, particularly in the ME.

HE IS A FUCKING LIAR AND HYPOCRITE! When he had his own show he was sucking the ass of the war in Iraq and the Bush administration of liars..and he wa sthe biggest propagandists for this war! Too bad people have such short memories!

of 'end times' idiocy. What we have is religious extremism carrying over into the mainstream news media. Imagine that. Mix that up with corporate interests and you end up with a news network not worthy of the name.

You expect them to have access to the internets AND know how to use teh Goggle? Come on! Well, don't worry. As soon as Alex Castellanos comes back from vacation (who's paying him for that time? CNN or AHIP?), they'll be right on it! So, let's leave it there for now.

expect them to jump into the Goggles? They need more time. They need to take it slow to get it right.

And even then it would take 10,000 Tweets to get their attention.

some of which is, criminal behavior. One should have to look no further than this and similar stories to see where the problem lies.

The higher the monkeys climb, the more they expose themselves!!

:rofl: Busted, indeed.

against Helm's Black opponent.


Media Matters and all the nasty stuff this guy does:


Castellanos "Wrote And Produced" Racially Charged Political Ad. According to PBS, "In the North Carolina <1990> Senate campaign, Republican incumbent Jesse Helms was several points behind Democrat Harvey Gantt in polls taken shortly before the election. Over a weekend, political consultant Alex Castellanos wrote and produced an ad called 'Hands.' Gantt's support of affirmative action had been identified on surveys as an unpopular position. The controversial 'Hands' featured a close-up shot of two hands holding a letter and crumpling it as a narrator says 'You needed that job, but they had to give it to a minority.' Helms made up the difference in the polls and won re-election."

http://mediamattersaction.org/factcheck/200907160005

producers and fact checkers have more important things to do than vet guests. SNL runs every weekend this time of year - that has to take up most of Monday and Tuesday. Plus this week they are having to verify whether or not they really are "goat f@$!%ers" before running their fact check segment on the daily show.

All you need to do is look at Wolf Blitzkrieg, Lou Dobb and Candy Cowley, to see the evidence of that, who else would f@$!% those three geeks besides a tied up goat?

CNN MisTrusted Name In News!

Gee, it's a whole lot easier and more entertaining to just invite two opposing viewpoints on to argue than to actually do some research and present the facts.

To me lately that CNN is going the same route as faux noise has gone , their credibility is severely questionable..

watchers wrongly assume that CNN, unlike Fox News, is an unbiased source of information. Nothing could be further from the truth.

can we unmonopolize our news and get our fairness doctrine back,...please?

have ties to the insurance industry in one way or another. Or they aren't sane.

could buy it back and start it all over. I wonder how he feels about what his creation has become.

I am Andrea "Mitchell"
My husband is ______
I pretend that I was hired because of my skills as a Commentator ~ not true.


or
I am Anderson Cooper
My mother is Gloria Vanderbilt
I am not an ordinary Middle Class Guy

or --
I am _____ _______
I sit here and tell you I am FAIR and BALANCED
I worked for Rush for 10 yrs.
I get money under and over the table from the Viagra.

and....
The only way MOST of them even got their jobs is because of "who they know" and/or who "encouraged ~ gave $$$$'s" under the table for the Networks to hire them.