CNN is going for the title of "Number 1 Cable Fake News Network". First, the network published a baseless set of lurid stories about the Russians having blackmail info on President Elect Trump. That was revealed as false, but CNN never apologized. CNN got the story into other media, and that clearly was the goal. Now, CNN has done something similar with representative Price, the nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
A few days ago, CNN reported that Price had invested in a small medical device company and then introduced a bill which would greatly help that company with the result that the stock soared. The Wall Street Journal had published a story on Price's stock transactions and holdings, but it was much more subdued and did not include the claim of investing and then directly acting to help such a company.
There turn out, however, to be three rather large problems with the CNN report:
1. Price put all of his stock and other assets into a blind trust when he entered Congress. Neither he nor his family control the trading in his account.
2. Price gets periodic reports of his holdings that are needed to file disclosure forms required of all House members. He did not get word of the purchase of the stock in the company in question until quite a while after that transaction was made.
3. CNN got the sequence wrong. Price actually introduced the bill in question about one month before the stock was purchased in his account by the trustee.
Put simply, the story is totally bogus. It is pure fake news. CNN could have discovered all of this if it had bothered to ask Price about the allegations prior to publishing the story. CNN also could have looked at the disclosure forms and seen the correct time sequence with Price introducing the bill long before any stock purchase was made. There's no way to know for sure from the available information is CNN intentionally published the story while knowing it to be false or if this was just extremely shoddy reporting by CNN.
The problem beyond this phony story is that CNN still has not acknowledged its mistake. It has a story on its site now detailing the attacks by Democrats on the Senate committee on this topic while questioning Price. The story mentions Price's denials, but give them very little coverage. Someone who didn't know the truth would still think that there is really a problem here.
I would call for Americans to boycott CNN, but the network's ratings are already so low that a further drop would hardly be noticed. Indeed, if CNN didn't play in airports in much of America, I doubt that anyone would ever see what the network puts on the air.
A few days ago, CNN reported that Price had invested in a small medical device company and then introduced a bill which would greatly help that company with the result that the stock soared. The Wall Street Journal had published a story on Price's stock transactions and holdings, but it was much more subdued and did not include the claim of investing and then directly acting to help such a company.
There turn out, however, to be three rather large problems with the CNN report:
1. Price put all of his stock and other assets into a blind trust when he entered Congress. Neither he nor his family control the trading in his account.
2. Price gets periodic reports of his holdings that are needed to file disclosure forms required of all House members. He did not get word of the purchase of the stock in the company in question until quite a while after that transaction was made.
3. CNN got the sequence wrong. Price actually introduced the bill in question about one month before the stock was purchased in his account by the trustee.
Put simply, the story is totally bogus. It is pure fake news. CNN could have discovered all of this if it had bothered to ask Price about the allegations prior to publishing the story. CNN also could have looked at the disclosure forms and seen the correct time sequence with Price introducing the bill long before any stock purchase was made. There's no way to know for sure from the available information is CNN intentionally published the story while knowing it to be false or if this was just extremely shoddy reporting by CNN.
The problem beyond this phony story is that CNN still has not acknowledged its mistake. It has a story on its site now detailing the attacks by Democrats on the Senate committee on this topic while questioning Price. The story mentions Price's denials, but give them very little coverage. Someone who didn't know the truth would still think that there is really a problem here.
I would call for Americans to boycott CNN, but the network's ratings are already so low that a further drop would hardly be noticed. Indeed, if CNN didn't play in airports in much of America, I doubt that anyone would ever see what the network puts on the air.
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