CNN dismissed complaints that the network was not covering last week’s shocking arrest of Democrat Leland Yee, the California state senator who was arrested for alleged arms trafficking and bribery, and falsely asserted that it does not give attention to state senators.
That standard did not apply to Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, whom CNN covered relentlessly. This was long before she even considered a gubernatorial run after filibustering a bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks and make those conducted before then safer.
Viewers and readers on Friday complained that the network, just like Politico, was not reporting or discussing Yee’s scandal online, and the official and verified @CNNWriters account tweeted to one critic that ignoring Yee’s arrest was standard practice:
@TheINDYpundit It’s in line with us covering state senators & state secretary of state races just about never. You see another conspiracy?
— CNN.com Writers (@CNNWriters) March 28, 2014
In just one of many stories on CNN about Wendy Davis, the network gushed over and played up her biography–without even vetting it–after her filibuster made her their heroine. That bill eventually became law, and an appeals court upheld the law last week.
Davis also appeared on many of CNN’s primetime shows in 2013 as it blanketed its airwaves and online real estate with puff pieces about Davis, the state senator, long before she was even a gubernatorial candidate.
As Weasel Zippers noted, CNN has also covered the California state Senate candidacy of Sandra Fluke and Yee on many occasions.
The difference between Davis and Yee is that Davis is a female Democrat who was standing up for a liberal cause that could help liberals gin up the “war on women” rhetoric. Yee, on the other hand, is a minority Democrat indicted on corruption charges that could tarnish the image of Democrats and liberals that CNN desperately tries to protect as one of the left’s most dogged palace guards.
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