AC360 doesn't usually succumb to sensational journalism but in my opinion they did tonight. Anderson Cooper introduced the opening segment on AC360 Wednesday night by saying " We want you to look at this trend that we have been tracking for months. I want to tell you that it is deeply, deeply troubling". Anderson illustrated his terrorism story by standing in front of a map of the US and saying 'incidents of terror arrests, terror charges, alleged acts of terror and alleged terror connections in this country' have happened in these cities. Then he began to detail events ranging from suicide bombers in Somalia, rocket attacks on US troops in Afghanistan, a Muslim convert who shot a soldier in Little Rock, plans for an attack on Quantico and more to some trend. After which he backpedaled by saying "No one is saying there are links or connections between these separate incidents. We are seeing more and more of these cases."
That was enough yellow journalism for me, I switched the channel. I am disgusted by the type of alarmist reporting that 360 did on Wednesday, to quote AC 'it is deeply, deeply troubling'. 
Nebraska's Senator Ben Nelson, who sponsored the defeated amendment to prevent abortions being funded with Federal money in the HCR bill, spoke with AC about the supposed compromise that Harry Reid announced last night. I say supposed because when I switched the channel KO had a guest on who said there really was no compromise reached and that Reed was just trying to spin things in hopes that it would create momentum. Anyway Nelson is hanging tough in his insistence that no Federal money be used to pay for abortions and insists that it is a deal breaker if the Democrats want his very important vote.
Dana Bash, Joe Johns and David Gergen joined in the follow up discussion. The consensus seems to be that Congress will wait and see the price of the different alternatives before it comes down to saying yea or nay.
Climate control was again on the 360 docket because of the conference in Copenhagen and I guess because Sarah Palin wrote about polar bears on her Facebook page? Good enough reason for 360 to recycle the polar bear report from PIP.
Erica Hill's 360 News and Business Bulletin:
• Things are expected to get worse in Afghanistan before improving
• Sec. of Homeland Security said TSA documents posted online were outdated
• B of A has repaid its bailout loan in full
• Critics of 'Jersey Shore' are calling for an advertising boycott
• Nasty weather for parts of the US
• SC Governor Mark Sanford will not be impeached
• Homeland Security will subpoenaed the WH party crashers
•President Obama will accept the Nobel Peace Prize on Thursday
• Mysterious lights in the Norway skies
We have two new personal appearances for Anderson Cooper that Julie found today.
The Oliver Scholars Program Benefit was held tonight at Quo (511 West 28th Street, NYC) from 8:00 pm - 11:00 pm. The event description said " Designer Peyman Umay and NY Times’ Marcus Mabry create a runway event to celebrate the Oliver Scholar’s Program. Scheduled guests include Mickey Rourke, Loris Diran, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Alex McCord, Anderson Cooper, Malan Breton and celebrity stylist Derek Warburton. Cocktails sponsored by Svedka, hors d'oeuvres from Diva restaurant.
I wasn't familiar with this program so I did a little searching and here is what I found:
The Oliver Scholars Program selects highly motivated 7th grade students of African American and Latino descent and offers them the support and guidance they need to gain admission to some of the Northeast’s best independent schools and continues to support them through the college admissions process.
AC will deliver a Reagan Forum on Friday, February 19, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. and will discuss a 360° view of world events. There was no location listed, but I'm assuming it's at the Regan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA. Tickets are $45 per person and include dinner.
To purchase tickets by phone or for more information, please call 805-522-2977.
And this tweet from Kelly Ripa about what AC did this afternoon.
That's it for me this week and not a moment too soon. It was a rough night for this Anderson Cooper fan. ~Phebe
All Things Anderson is a blog dedicated to CNN's AC360 and its host Anderson Cooper.
11 comments:
I really couldn't get into 360 last nite. I tried, but it just wasn't all that interesting.
I am so sick of Sarah Palin. Why does 360 have to mention her every nite??? She's an idiot and she's an even bigger idiot for saying polar bears don't belong on the endangered species list. I love polar bears. Nice to see Jeff Corwin's polar bear piece again. They're so cute.
I am hoping tointe will be better since AC will be broadcasting from that tunnel on the US/Mexico border.
If you notice the map they showed at the beginning of the segment, you will find Springfield, IL pointing to Indianapolis, IN. Glad it was IL, since I'm an Indian resident.
I have to agree with you Phebe. The show was practically unwatchable. It was a scare tactic, when AC highligted all the cities in the US that were targeted, for homegrown terrorists.
I too, switched the channel. When real fans start doing this, yes, something is wrong. Maybe if AC did less spinning with Kelly and the gang, and worked harder on presenting a good program, everyone would be better off.
Seeing the rerun of the Polar Bears was the only reason I switched back. I kept thinking,"Back in the Days," when 360 and PIP I was really a treat to watch, if only because Anderson was interested in what he was doing
and we were interested in the subject matter.
350 stayed with the terrorism story way too long. I didn't change the channel but I did mentally tune out It seemed like big portions were repeats from the "homegrown hate" reports they had a while back.
As much as I don't like 360 repeating segments, paradoxically I loved the repeat of the PIP report about the polar bears.
I love the expression on Anderson's face in the "Jersey Shore boycott" screengrab.
The Shot was a mishmash of clips of various news troublemakers. It's one of those days when I think they are not really trying to find anything interesting or entertaining for The Shot and just grab any old thing from the internet.
Hello Phebe and friends!!!!
Yesterday I couldn't watch the show. I really needed to sleep. My week is complicated: a training at work in accordance with the schedule of Texas (-4 hours away for here) and my son with fever.
Questions:
1) Will AC today be making the show of California?
2) Phebe, why do you say "It was a rough night for this Anderson Cooper fan", my friend?
See you and thanks!
Ah, someone has Google Wave?
I'm testing and trying to learn about it!
It's so bad I read for the comments I that I didn't lose much (if nothing) in 360 yesterday.
But we will have faith .... today will be better with AC doing the show on the field!
It certainly did appear that 360 was the homegrown terrorism 'threat' way out of proportion - they just seem to be trading one form of sensationalism (tabloid news) for another.
@ACAnderFan, ITA about 360 and their increasingly irritating nightly mentions of Sarah Palin. I'm at a loss as to why they think any of their viewers care to hear her opinon on anything.
Wow, I really am the odd person out on ATA. I thought Monday's 360 monotonous and Tuesday's terrible, but Wednesday very good. The coverage was interesting, and AC's introductions to the stories hold the attention, as he's such a fine speaker and exceptionally attractive. I found last night's show stimulating. In the demographics, each person's opinion represents so many hundreds. No wonder it's a huge challenge to satisfy everyone and achieve high ratings. I think most of us agree that Anderson himself is the main draw, and most love his field work. 360 should center the program around those two things--the beautiful Ander face in ours as much as possible, and on-location coverage like tonight.
Phebe, I totally agree with you about 360 trying to make a story out of something that just wasn't there. Perhaps sensationalism is their answer to Fox's yelling? If so, I find it a complete turn-off (no pun intended!) While I have felt some of the stories in the past have had a sensationalist slant, last night's lead story was total fabrication! Even the pundits said the incidents weren't related. While I think the story of the 5 men being arrested in Pakistan should have been covered, report the facts -- and if need be the 360 Big Interview was acceptable -- but the "map" and panel discussion was totally thrown in to try to make something out of nothing -- and scare us?!
The segment on health care was good, and I would have liked to have seen a segment on Afghanistan (rather than relegating it to a blip in the bulletin)!
I am so over Sarah Palin, but apparently AC or someone at 360 is hanging on her every word, Tweet, or Facebook posting! When they mention Sarah Palin, I tune out. While the PIP replays to bring attention to the global warming debate are interesting, I don't care what Sarah Palin has to say, period, end of sentence.
I, also, find it interesting that 360 started a series called "One Simple Thing" (So far three installments) with interesting stories and decided to bury all of the segments in the repeat hour with no shout out in the live hour. I have a feeling very few people ever see these reports and quite frankly they are better than many of the segments making the live hour. Why bother with a series few viewers ever see?
The Shot was just plain lame.
After a couple of outstanding episodes last week, and pretty good Monday and Tuesday shows this week, I was hoping 360 was getting back on tract -- but last night's show was pretty much a disaster in my book.
I'm really looking forward to tonight's show with Anderson reporting on the tunnel and the issues at the Mexican Border. He seems to love crawling around in tunnels and it's been far too long since 360 did any follow up on "The War Next Door!" Hopefully, tonight's show will stay on topic and make up for last night's poor excuse for a show!
I have also seen the show take a different turn recently. It seems that Anderson doesn't have as much control as he used to and someone else is pulling the strings. Moreover, I wonder if it has to do with the fact that AC is rumored to be Regis's replacement when his contract is up? Anymore news on that front? Maybe that is why he is hanging out with the gang. AC is such a great reporter, but I think the powers that be at CNN are trying to boost ratings their way. I say let Anderson do what he does best and the ratings will come back. Also, if 360 is not to your liking tonight you can go to the website www.hulu.com and watch Anderson on the first and second seasons of The Mole. I finished watching the whole first season and now I am on to the second. He looked so young and adorable and he still is.Great entertainment.
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