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Saturday, April 28, 2012

Anderson Cooper Keeps Them Honest with the War on Women

Lots of outrage over Anderson Cooper's 'Keeping Them Honest' interview with Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D. NY) on Friday night's AC360. Here are the segments so you can see what the kerfuffle is all about.



The follow up with David Gergen and Candy Crowley:



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20 comments:

Anonymous said...

How pathetic. CNN & Anderson Cooper politicize
everything. Hypocrite. The culture of cable news
is anti-woman. He does not think there is a War
On Women because media has been waging the
War on Women for years. Rachel Maddow is the
only one who talks seriously about women's
issues. That was out of line. Why did he keep
interrupting and not let her talk. He should have
respected her and his viewers more. There was no
need for that. I don't know who he was trying to
impress but he embarrassed himself.

Anonymous said...

There was nothing honest about Anderson's handling of this interview. If anyone wants to have a good example of bad journalism, you can hardly do better than this. Anderson and his 360 team would do well to study up on conservatives and their ongoing agenda to decimate women's health rights along with other extremist policies they are backing. I wonder if ANYONE on the AC360 team read that excellent Op-Ed piece in the Washington Post on Friday that accurately summed up how destructive and dangerous the Republican party have become - it was devastating and a perfect example of what "Keeping Them Honest" should REALLY look like, Anderson could use the lesson.

Anonymous said...

I can sum up 360's ratings slide in three words :
Keeping Them Honest. It's branding run amuck
on CNN with a big ugly graphic. It is a made up
topic that is totally useless. Anderson can't keep
himself or his pundits honest. We are suppose to
fall for a stunt. The segment is boring and not
newsworthy. 360 went heavy with KTH and just
take a look at the ratings. It is overused and not
worth watching. He is just setting up a straw man.
This makes him look bad and he is going to pay
a price. It isn't political how the Republicans are
trying to fund this ? It has politics written all over
it , yet Anderson chose to jump on Democrats.
He is coming off as pro Republican and another
cable news Obama basher. MSNBC'S daytime
ratings are topping CNN in prime time for a
reason : stupid stunts like keeping them honest.

Some viewers, mainly women, were likely sticking
with Anderson because they like him. He just
changed that. Male interviewers have to walk
a tightrope when interviewing women. Anderson
is a bully.

Anonymous said...

Anderson Cooper should sit down and do some soul
searching and figure out where he wants to take 360.
Anderson Cooper was once regarded as one of those
who would be the game changers in cable news. A
fresh group of journalists and hosts who want to use
intelligence and smart conversations. Facts matter
and there are so many stories out there . That is
beneath Anderson Cooper. The standards of 360
should be high. He should be in the Maddow, Hayes,
Klein,Toure & Melissa Harris Perry group. Not the
same tired old cable news crap. Which group does
the want 360 associated with. I hope it is with the
new fresh faces and ideas in cable news. He has
to decide if he wants to be wants to be in with
the crowd that is making the news, hip & cool
just by elevating the conversation in cable news.
Maddow, Hayes, Klein, Toure & MHP are making
the right choices. They have decided they will
not dumb down there shows. They approach
their shows with a strong sense of responsibility.
They take their shows seriously and you can
see the think about what they are doing and
they work hard and put a whole lot of effort
into their shows. 360 is heading in the wrong
direction.

Anonymous said...

That's why I have stopped watching 360. The
show has been going downhill fast. That will be
viewed as an on air meltdown by AC. Why did he
feel the need to do that ? That was wrong. The
standards just keep going lower and lower.

Personally, I hope he choses the new news crew.
When AC & his team see the ratings on Monday,
they will see viewers don't like what they are
doing with 360. Maybe they need to go after a
producer at TRMS.MSNBC understands the art
of communication more than CNN. They are not
so lazy that they just sit back and let the pundits
go at it. Pundits don't bring in viewers. It is the
content,guests and how the host guides the show.
Zero effort goes into 360.

Anonymous said...

CNN has been shady for some time now. Not
giving viewers the full story and spreading hate
and discourse . The tone on CNN is a turnoff. It
is too negative and too mean. That is why the
ratings are tanking. Who wants to watch that.
AC 360 once had interesting content, a good
mix of stories and guests. KTH & the pundits
make me turn the channel. After this Anderson
Cooper will have to work harder to get me back
as a viewer. Turn off women, minorities, people
with brains. CNN must not want any viewers. The
female demographic has become the most
important. Women are the majority population.
Anderson would never treat a female Republican
like that so why did he think this was appropriate.
Click. 360 has become unwatchable.

Anonymous said...

So Anderson is a Republican with an agenda.
This is not surprising and it does not surprise me that he had an attitude for the entire debate.
He went into the interview an "attitude against the war on women," and he stayed with it.
He was disrespectful of the Congress woman and all women.
Reasonable people of both genders should have seen this coming for a long time.
I for one don't watch Anderson Cooper anymore because he doesn't keep himself honest so how can he claim to keep others honest?
He has an agenda and it's a Republican agenda and the women who watch his daytime program should boycott it.
Period. End of story.

Anonymous said...

Anderson Cooper just threw his journalistic
credibility out of the window. It turns out
Keeping Them Honest is dishonest and he
is not interested in the truth. Good for Rachel
Maddow to keep him in check. Rachel would
never insult her viewers. CNN stop trying to
be FNC. We know where to find the channel.
If we are trying to watch CNN. why would we
be interested in the FNC news style.

Anonymous said...

AI think Anderson had some facts on his side in this debate but the picture is much, much bigger than the little nitpicking he did in this Keeping Them Honest piece.

Cooper is an idiot if he thinks he can insult women and have them still watch him on 360 or his daytime snooze show. Women and gays make up the majority of his fan base and they are starting to desert him in droves.

Anonymous said...

Why did CNN feel the need to turn 360 into
Crossfire. Every topic has 2 people having a
staged fake debate. 360 is like this every day.
Nothing different, new or original. Viewers
know that CNN ruined the show and that is
why 360 is falling.KTH does not work and this
shows why.360 is in need of a serious makeover.
The opening is so boring. All Anderson does is
just sit back and toss questions . That is so not
360. NO news, no content, only pundits on as
guests,stupid conversation, no music. ED &
Lawrence O'Donnell actually talk to you at the
beginning of their shows. Both shows do a lot
of work creating a nightly opening. They book
guests not pundits.ED & TLW are much better
shows.360 is crap. Instead of stepping up the
game on 360 they are dumbing down. 360 was
once popular with the college kids. So why
insult college grads. Those college kids and
grads are now turning to TRMS & TLW. Smart
news is cool. 360 is becoming so last century
with a heavy reliance on pundits. 360 is at
risk of becoming so last century. 360 should
be more like TRMS, TLW, Morning Joe, MHP
& Chris Hayes. They are changing cable news
and not afraid to be smart and don't use old
tiered news formulas that are more than a
decade old. Wow that means 360 is so last
century and views like there is no War On
Women really shine the spotlight on how out
of touch 360 is these days. Anderson Cooper
360 has some problems.

Anonymous said...

OH NO, he didn't. Why even go there ? Put on a
women's show now. Isha, Betty, Asleigh can
you start today right before 360. 360 had better
start reaching out to women writers and experts.

Not talking about female pundits. It just shows
women have no influence at CNN or 360. Look
at all of the strong women on MSNBC, : Mika,
Alex Wagner, Andrea Mitchell Rachel Maddow.
Prof. Melissa Harris Perry. This is a PR nightmare.

Start giving Aisha Sesay an expanded role on
360 so Anderson Cooper will never do anything
that stupid again. MSNBC has been making a
very strong push for women viewers. CNN
can't grow without women and if they don't
make this up quickly all might be lost. Women
can hold out for a very long time. Anderson
Cooper has some explaining to do. He better
find a way to make things up with his female
viewers. I'm sorry would be a good start.

Anonymous said...

Has Anderson Cooper been living under a rock ?
He mistakenly relies on pundits as real people.
Bad idea. That crowd is largely white, male and
conservative. Women are the majority in America.
Deal with Anderson Cooper. The pundits have
created a huge disconnect for him. They don't
represent modern American society and definitely
not women. Anderson Cooper needs to get out of
the Mad Men mentality. Read, Research & really
Comprehend. Dramatic shifts are taking place
in this country & CNN is oblivious to modern
America and clueless about women. The women's
issue just increased 100 % for CNN.

Anonymous said...

I think Anderson might be hanging round Alex
Castellanos too much. Did you guys see how he
treated Rachel Maddow on Meet The Press ?

That's right a CNN pundit was being condescending
to Rachel Maddow and she put him in his place. It
was pretty much the same attitude as Anderson
on Friday with Rep Maloney. She seemed stunned
and surprised by him. I have to admit I was taken
aback and stunned myself. It completely ruined
my image of Anderson Cooper as a gentlemen.

It is as if CNN is helping lead the War On Women.
Why ? Anderson Cooper & Team 360 do need to
make up with their female audience. Add a 10
minute segment that focuses on women each
night on 360 so Anderson Cooper gets schooled.
Isha Sesay would be perfect to talk with Anderson
about this each night just like at the beginning
of the Talk. Use Meryn Cadell's Sweater for the
intro. The first 25 seconds is perfect. Check out
the video on You Tube.

Anderson Cooper could learn a lesson from Joe
Scarborough. He uses the Cosby defense with
Mika a lot. It comes from an episode with Alvin
and Sandra fighting and Cliff give Alvin some
advice on what his reaction should be.

Women are as complex as the issues we face.
It can never be explained in Keeping Them
Honest. 360 does not want to be seen as playing
a role in The War On Women. Anderson needs
to start reading the NY Times. They have been
doing some fantastic work on women with some
very insightful stories. Not to even mention all
of those women's magazines and websites. Can
you say damage control ?

Anonymous said...

CNN = Chauvinist News Network. CNN has never
treated women with respect. CNN want women
to be cute and flirty and not too smart. Problem
is they are suppose to be a news channel. Look
at their female talent. They don't have command
of facts or the news. Maybe if a woman were in
charge of CNN things would change. Could she
possibly any worst than Ken Jautz of Jon Klein.
Why would any college-educated women watch
CNN. They're insulting to women. They have a
women are accessories mentality. How long how
we been talking about this.

Anonymous said...

Only booking pundits has ruined 360. Night after
night Anderson let's them get away with lying to
viewers because they are on the CNN payroll. 360
& CNN needs to drop pundits and stop trying to
define everything through a ideological prism. I
never thought I would see a day when Anderson
Cooper sounds like Rush Limbaugh. If 360 really
cared about honesty, why do you book pundits ?

Anonymous said...

This is why 360 is in trouble, disconnected from
viewers. On the 360 blog they are highlighting
another boring Drew Griffith report. Train to
nowhere snoozefest. Another anti-government
story from TEANN & Tea Party 360. Thanks for
the heads up so I know to pass on 360.

More people care about the couple who started
a blog on their dying baby, the Clippers comeback.
WH correspondents dinner. Viewers are not going
to watch pundit palooza on 360 or Tea Party
themed news on 360. The lack of news, content
and pundit themed news is the reason behind
the incredibly shrinking 360 ratings. Last week
there wasn't 1 decent episode of 360.

Anonymous said...

I was appalled by the way Alex Castellanos spoke to Rachel Maddow on MTP. He was not only condescending, he was rude and insulting. I made up my mind then that I will never watch another segment of any CNN show with him as a pundit.

I was happy this afternoon to see Wolf Blitzer do a segment on "Do women really make less than men?" It was covered well, and proven with facts. Nice going, Wolf!

I haven't watched 360 for a long time now. It looks fairly obvious that Anderson does not do any homework for the show, and he doesn't show much interest. I've always thought the Ridiculist was ridiculous and had no place on a news program.

Anonymous said...

@6:31PM My thoughts exactly.
The Ridiculist is totally out of place on a news program but anything to keep Anderson happy even if that anything isn't amusing or funny.
Who would say no to Anderson?
The viewers.

Anonymous said...

That is the problem with CNN instead of news, they turn to tricks, stunts and pundits.

I guess Cooper thinks if he can argue a guest down or put on another fake laughing fit, people will tune in.

There was an article the other day discussing cable news. They didn't even include CNN in the converstion, just goes to show you how irrelevant CNN has become.

Mike said...

I know I'm almost 6 months late to the party here but I had to comment after reading all of the posts in the comment section. I think at most only two individuals actually wrote the comments that precede my own. Possibly only one person. All of the points, verbiage and tone are essentially identically. I've never seen anyone use the acronyms TRMS or TLW before yet they're in every other post. I've also never heard of Aisha Sesay but apparently she is the greatest journalist on Earth.

Anyone with any semblance of integrity who viewed this clip should realize that Anderson presented facts to the Congresswoman that countered her position. The data he put forth completely undercut her argument and she was unprepared for this encounter. She is probably used to the red carpet treatment she surely receives on MSNBC. This is the same reason that Obama was so badly beaten in the debate two weeks ago by Romney. Obama, just like this Congresswoman, is used to being surrounded by yes men, or yes women for all you feministas out there.

Anderson was not mean and didn't constantly interupt the guest as one commenter stated (or should I say the one commenter said). You could tell that he was frustrated that his guest was only sticking to talking points even after he proved her argument ineffective and flawed.

The only people that should be "embarrassed" is the Congresswoman and viewers too partisan to see this interview for what it was, a Democrat getting beaten senseless by a fact bat. And no, there is no reason that a male interviewer should tread carefully when interviewing a female politician unless the topic calls for it, ie discussing rape, spusal abuse etc. Politicians discussing politics should not be spared fact based argument because of race, creed or color.