A sampling of the evening news as depicted by CNN’s 24-hour Headline News (HLN) network revealed a number of themes. While the topics ranged from international relations to economic affairs to domestic policy, they frequently portrayed a narrow scope of basic ideological tenets, those traits that define and unite “us” as “Americans.” Most prevalent among these was the ethnocentric lens, describing international problems in the language of costs and consequences to the United States, tempered with the rugged individualism synonymous with the “American way.”
I turned on the news in the middle of a story titled “Red Storm Rising,” immediately invoking a sense of McCarthyism and a fear for the democratic way of life (read: capitalism). According to the segment, China (may have) intentionally manipulated the value of their currency in order to gain a trade advantage. The worse crime, however, is the government’s paralyzing ambivalence; clips (edited into a montage of close-up shots of large wads of cash) go so far as to accuse President Obama and members of the Treasury of “flip- flopping” and a “flagrantly broken campaign promise” for failing to take decisive action in the face of this threat — this new economic Red Scare. The presentation seems to imply a certain level of incompetence in the administration’s (mis)handling of the situation, deserting American’s to once again fend for themselves.”
HLN then segued (after a generous commercial break) into a segment titled “Broken Borders,” covering “out-of-control drug cartel violence.” Reporters followed Mexican police through the rubble-strewn streets of Juarez as they sought out the source of nearby gunfire. At one point they stop to question a trio of scantily clad transvestite prostitutes, completing the illusion of some bizarre circus beyond the borders of our own nation. The discussion accompanying the footage of gang violence and fresh corpses was one of “strategy”, “tough action”, and a “Surge” of all elements of power. One commentator even managed to fit the terms terrorism, communism, and counterinsurgency in the space of a single (unnecessarily complex) sentence. Again we have the image of America the victim. America the reluctant hero. America the world police.
The third segment turned an eye towards domestic issues, namely Wednesday’s Tax Day TEA Parties, which opened up a larger discussion regarding government spending. South Carolina’s Republican Governor Mark Sanford was brought on to assure viewers that the protests are part of “something larger” and represent the disillusionment of America’s “silent majority.” No alternative interpretations received any screen time (such as Paul Krugman’s op-ed piece in the NY Times pointing out that Washington D.C. based, conservative group FreedomWorks played a large role in organizing the so-called spontaneous events). Luckily, the Governor’s do-it-yourself attitude caters to a proud American tradition, reminding viewers that we don’t need the government (an interesting paradox considering he is the government).
The approximately forty minutes of “news” I subjected myself to revealed an appalling dearth of critical cross-examination of the issues — not even that token gesture news outlets typically include in the name of objectivity. Surprisingly (given the “liberal identity” of CNN actual), HLN’s content trended towards the conservative end of the ideological spectrum, espousing traditional values over more progressive beliefs. Perhaps CNN has discovered a way to appeal to both sides of the market in today’s divisive political climate, providing content to appease consumers regardless of their partisan orientation. Perhaps that explains why the CNN logo is notably absent from the four corners of the television, an attempt to disassociate HLN with the ideological baggage of her parent network.