Media watchdog aims to expose flaws of cable news

By Joshua M. Rinaldi, Freeman staff
04/01/2007

JEFF Cohen likes to say he's been to the belly of the beast and lived to talk about it.

In fact, the Saugerties resident has written a book about the experience: "Cable News Confidential - My Misadventures in Corporate Media."

Having received paychecks from CNN, Fox News and MSNBC over the last two decades, Cohen has found a lot to critique about the business.

Cohen doesn't claim to be disillusioned with the corporate media, but only because he never had illusions. He founded the group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting in 1986 and entered the fray with a heavy dose of skepticism as he appeared on CNN and Fox News as a political pundit. But he said the flaws were made abundantly clear during the nine months he worked for MSNBC leading up to the Iraq war.

"Every mainstream news outlet or national network had a choice: act journalistically and skeptically or give Bush a free pass," he said. "Most chose to give him a pass."

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18155428&BRD=1769&PAG=461&dept_id=74969&rfi=6

-Jim