Rahm Emanuel's Political Team Coordinated Parts of CNN Documentary Chicagoland

Just another example of how the mainstream media is simply an extension of the ruling class:

"If it seemed as though some scenes of CNN's documentary series Chicagoland were coordinated by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's City Hall and the show's producers, that's because they were," the Chicago Tribune reports.

"More than 700 emails reviewed by the Tribune reveal that the production team worked hand in hand with the mayor's advisers to develop storylines, arrange specific camera shots and review news releases officially announcing the show."

"Producers asked the mayor's office to help them set up key interactions in what the cable network has billed as a nonscripted eight-part series, including Emanuel's visits with the school principal who emerged as a star of the show, emails show."

Everything you see on TV these days is propaganda.

Everything.

Christine Quinn Calls Herself A "Pushy Broad"

Christine Quinn went on both MSNBC and CNN today to respond to the front page NY Times article that depicted her as vindictive person with a bad temper and an abrasive personality:

Amid reports about her hot temper and profanity-laced rants, the City Council speaker and mayoral frontrunner embraced the fiery image in two national TV interviews - while saying she tries, not always successfully, not to let her emotions get the best of her and push her over the line.

“I have always said I’ve had a big personality, and I’ve always said I’m a pushy broad, and I’ve always said I want to get things done. And sometimes to get things done you have to be aggressive,” she said in an interview on MSNBC.

“Now I hope I’m never over the line and the times that I have made mistakes and been over the line I’m the first to pick up the telephone and make an apology,” she said. "But I’m passionate about the work I do, and I’m passionate and in a rush to make things better for New York City, and sometimes you have to push to make that happen. This is a tough town. You need tough people leading it.”

In a separate interview on CNN, Quinn denied dishing out political retaliation for personal slights - but did say she’s used force to get sometimes unwieldy Council members to fall in line.  “I’ve tried very hard to bring discipline to the City Council, which was for many many years known a kind of an undisciplined body without focus. Now that means bringing order,” she said.

“At times I get really emotional about the work I’m doing,” Quinn said. “I’m an aggressive woman who gets things done and that’s the way it is. I’ve never been embarrassed about the fact that I am pushy and aggressive.”

In the NY Times article, Quinn admitted to having retaliated against a City Council member who failed to credit her in a public relations release statement:

Several people said that Ms. Quinn’s anger could extend beyond conversation: as speaker, she has used her control of the Council’s funding accounts to punish members who have defied her. 

When Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley issued a statement to community newspapers in her Queens district that took credit for saving local firehouses from the annual budget ax, she failed to praise Ms. Quinn. Within an hour, Ms. Crowley was called into a room at City Hall, where a livid Ms. Quinn began to shout at her, demanding to know who had authorized what she considered to be a premature and poorly worded release. 

An aide to Ms. Quinn, Ramon Martinez, criticized Ms. Crowley’s abilities as a lawmaker, at one point telling her, “You don’t know when to shut up,” according to people familiar with the episode. (Mr. Martinez, in an interview, said he did not recall using those words at the time, but added, “I certainly could have said that to her” in a separate conversation.) 

Shaken, Ms. Crowley left, thinking the worst was over. Days later, she learned that Ms. Quinn had cut the Council contributions to senior centers and youth sports programs in her district. The two now rarely speak. 

Asked about the episode last week, Ms. Quinn said that Ms. Crowley had committed “a completely inappropriate, attention-grabbing act” and violated Council protocol. “She was told it was not acceptable, and I did not mince words in telling her that,” she said. 

Did Ms. Crowley have her funding cut as a punishment? “It is what happened that year,” Ms. Quinn replied. 

Pressed on whether the move was an act of retaliation, Ms. Quinn just smiled: “It is what happened that year,” she said again, signaling that the matter was closed. 

No matter how Quinn characterized the Crowley episode on CNN today, the New York Times article makes quite clear that she retaliated against a City Council member for not praising Quinn in her p.r. statement by cutting funding in that member's district for programs for the elderly and the young.

Quinn can try and spin that any way she wants, but the fact is, she cut programs for people who had done nothing to her because of a perceived slight.

That's not the act of a"pushy broad" looking to "get things done" by being "aggressive".

That's the act of a nasty, vindictive ego maniac lacking conscience and a sense of a right and wrong.

CNN Does "Gotcha" Interview With Ravitch After Softball Interview With Michelle Rhee (UPDATED)

Diane Ravitch posts the following:

I taped the interview a few minutes ago.

It airs tomorrow at 9-10 am EST.

It was a gotcha session.

This is the letter I sent to my contact at CNN.

This was one of the most biased interviews I have ever done, and I have done many.
Randi Kaye asked me about NAEP scale scores, which was technically a very dumb question, and I was stunned.
She thinks that a scale score of 250 on a 500 point scale is a failing grade, but a scale score is not a grade at all.
It’s a trend line.
She asserted that the scale scores are a failing grade for the nation.
That is like saying that someone who scores a 600 on the SAT is a C student, because it is only 75% of 800. But that’s wrong.
The scale is a technical measure. It is not a grade, period.
Then she asked me about an issue in Michigan, which fortunately, I had written about. But it was clear she was trying to blindside me.
The point of her question was to blame teachers, and I refused to be pushed into her trap.
Then she read two hostile comments about my CNN post and asked for my response.
Was that supposed to be a balanced or fair interview?
There was no effort to elicit my views, only a determination to prove me wrong and to assert that US education is terrible.
Shame on CNN.

I have already called and expressed my disgust that CNN did a hit piece on Ravitch after doing a softball interview with Rhee.

I also noted that since CNN's ratings are in the toilet and nobody really watches the channel anymore, if Ms. Ravitch goes on another news network and responds to the CNN attack, more people will hear and see her anyway.

You can leave feedback about Randi Kaye, the CNN "journalist" who conducted the attack interview here:

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/#cnn_FBKCNNTV

You can call and leave feedback here about the interview verbally here: 404.827.1500 option 1. That's the "News Tip" line, but they'll transfer you.

Shame on CNN indeed.

UPDATED - 2:33 PM: Diane notes that people should see the interview before we make comments to CNN about it. She is right, of course. But given the softball nature of the Rhee interview and then the post Diane put up about how her own interview with Randi Kaye felt so adversarial, this seemed like just another example of the corporate media promoting a corporate reform agenda while giving short shrift to progressive education and it's hard to not get emotional about the whole thing. Especially with the track record we have lately of so many anti-public school/teacher bashing pieces like Waiting for Superman, NBC's Education Nation, Won't Back Down, etc. showing up.

Still, a good lesson for me - wait to see the interview before reacting to it. Wait to see the movie Won't Back Down before reacting to it. Okay - lesson learned. (Except I probably won't be seeing Won't Back Down because I don't want to give the producers of that movie my $12 bucks!)