Sporadic Public Relations

I rationalise my patronage of CNN. I tell myself that as someone in public relations, I have to be up-to-date on the trends in the mainstream media. But it’s lies, really.

I liken CNN to rubbernecking an accident on the highway: I shouldn’t look, but I…just…can’t…help…it.

So when CNN started selling T-shirts with headlines on them two months ago, I waited excitedly for the opportunity to purchase some horrible headline emblazoned on a shirt branded with CNN’s logo. Unfortunately, it was not to be.

CNN reserves its shirts for only the most quirky, offbeat headlines that find their way onto the site.

So while CNN’s headline shirts have been around for a while now (longer than I expected actually), it’s only recently that I found that they serve an important purpose. As CNN’s most outrageous and gimmicky headlines are the ones “shirt-worthy”, the number of shirts featured on the CNN home page is actually a pretty keen barometer of CNN’s credibility as a news source.

So without further ado I propose the CNN T-shirt Index, together we can document CNN’s precipitous slide toward tabloid journalism. Hold on to your Blitzers!

Current CNN T-shirt Index: 3

Under the motto “Love with your heart, use you head for everything else”, Captain Disillusion is a superhero for the 21st Century. With a devoted following on YouTube, this admirable crusader is dedicated to debunking fake videos and pictures. The internet, where bogus media is ubiquitous and gullible people even more so, has long supplied him with ample material. But he has now begun to take on fallacious and fanciful news stories.

In the two videos below, Captain Disillusion blasts the London Evening Standard and CNN (the pillar of respectable journalism that it is); if you enjoy these videos, make sure you go on to watch his other videos.

It never takes long on CNN.com to find something truly offensive to the intellect, most often found in the site’s “Living” section. Today, however, it came straight from the King himself. From Larry King Live:

Do childhood vaccinations cause or contribute to autism? That’s the question at the center of a case involving an Atlanta girl. The answer may come today. Meet the 9-year-old and her family who are challenging medical and government experts. A Larry King Exclusive!

I was going to sit this one out, thinking that any rational adult would be able to make up their mind. I mean, it is wild speculation versus peer-reviewed science; which would you trust your child’s life to? But at the time of this writing, the CNN.com Live Poll showed that 80% of roughly 9,700 people stated they believed vaccinations cause or contribute to autism*. Below the poll was the necessary disclaimer “This is not a scientific poll”. Damn straight it isn’t.

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