A few days ago--September 3, to be exact--The Cable Game noted that CNN had severed its relationship with the Reuters news agency. It was obviously a cost-cutting move for the beleaguered network, although, equally obviously, the news channel denied any such thing. Instead, CNN offered brave talk about doing more news-gathering with its own resources--without mentioning any plans to expand those resources.
The whole attempt at spin was just so much vaporware, of course, and now we have proof. Just a week later, we see that CNN viewers are paying the price of false economy. As cable news-beater Brian Stelter details in today's edition of The New York Times , CNN, now Reuters-less, was caught flat-footed--and empty-screened for a time--during the rush to get the latest Osama Bin Laden video on the air.
That's great reporting, Brian--proving that you can still do good work at the Times, as well as at your dream-gig, TVNewser.
But The Cable Gamer has her own possible explanation as to CNN's dereliction. Maybe it was Christiane Amanpour who held up showing the OBL video, because the "God's Warriors" queen, the empress of politically correct neutralism in the global war on terror, was demanding "equal time" for fanatics from Christianity and Judaism, too.
