CNN's S.O.S. – Biased News Network Taps Biased HBO Docs

The self-described “Most Trusted Name in News” needs a ratings life line. So CNN, a network completely in denial about its growing liberal bias, is reaching out to another network for help – one with a track record of liberal bias.

CNN is teaming up with HBO to re-use some of the pay cable’s content. No, we won’t be seeing Anderson Cooper introduce a rerun of “The Sopranos” or “Sex and the City.” Instead, the news network will start dropping some of HBO’s documentary programs into its schedule.

On Sept. 1, CNN will broadcast “41,” an HBO documentary about George H. W. Bush that premiered on the pay-cable channel in June. On Sept. 2, the network will introduce the 2009 HBO documentary “Teddy: In His Own Words” about Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

Those two picks shouldn’t ruffle many feathers. Both offer sympathetic portraits of their subjects, and claims of media bias can be measured by the notion that such profiles are often congratulatory in nature. The documentary “41” is one of the rare HBO productions, frankly, which treat a GOP star in a flattering light.

What will come next? Will CNN broadcast “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama” and “Right America: Feeling Wronged,” two documentaries made with a clear liberal agenda in mind?

CNN is further diminishing its “nonpartisan” brand simply by hopping in content bed with HBO. Should the news channel embrace HBO’s more left-leaning fair, it will simple hasten the channel’s growth into MSNBC-Lite.