American Morning Censored?

Iconic sex symbol Marilyn Monroe’s alleged marijuana use? Hush! Controversial pop SINsation Lady Gaga’s gender? Hush! Hush! What is going on at American Morning this week or, actually, the last eight days? Unfortunately, it appears that  AM executive producer Jamie Kraft has presided over its becoming C.N.N. (not CNN), i.e., the Censored Network News.

Last Wednesday, when AM co-host John Roberts reported on the recent sale of a private Marilyn Monroe video, he failed to inform his AM audience that Marilyn Monroe was allegedly smoking marijuana in it: rather, he simply twice said, “[It] shows her acting casually on the couch with friends, smoking and drinking wine.”** However, cable news rivals FNC* and MSNBC did not shy away from Marilyn Monroe’s alleged pot use nor did the main stream media, e.g., ABC, BBC, and the New York Times.)

Today, Jeanne Moos reported on Lady Gaga’s meeting Queen Elizabeth II in Liverpool, England, after the Royal Variety Performance.*** Afterwards, Roberts remarked, “I’ll admit that there’s something strangely fascinating about her but, I mean, it’s all image and marketing.” Co-host Kiran Chetry concurred, “Of course, it is!”

Really? According to recent concert footage, Lady Gaga may be Laddy Gaga: In the NSFW Gawker.com clip, as she gets off a motorcycle and subsequently shimmies in a micro red mini, she exposes what seems to be a small male member. According to Bossip.com, Lady Gaga confirmed her hermaphroditic status, stating “It’s not something that I’m ashamed of, just isn’t something that I go around telling everyone. Yes. I have both male and female genitalia, but I consider myself a female.” Reportedly, she added, “The reason I haven’t talked about it is that it’s not a big deal to me.”

With Marilyn Monroe, AM omitted a material fact, i.e., her apparent smoking of marijuana. As to Lady Gaga, AM seemed to include a significant fiction, i.e., that her “strangely fascinating” nature is “all image and marketing.” If Kraft does not give his AM viewers the full news, sans such salient omissions and questionable inclusions, they may begin to lose confidence in the accuracy of American Morning and, by extension, CNN.

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*Fox & Friends (12/02/09)

** Full quote: A new home movie of Marilyn Monroe unscripted has surfaced. The quick clip from the ’50’s shows her acting casually on the couch with friends, smoking and drinking wine. The copyright to the film will be offered on Ebay this week by a collector who paid a quarter of a million dollars for it.” American Morning (12/02/09)- @ 6:08 a.m. ET and @8:39 a.m. ET (Second reading omitted “and” between “smoking” and “drinking” and substituted “one” for “a” before “million.”)

***American Morning (12/09/09) – @6:55 a.m. ET

FDR, Reagan, Obama?

On this first day after Martin Luther King Day 2009, President-elect Barack Obama ushered in a new era in civil rights history. As thousands streamed into the Washington Mall in the pre-dawn hours, American Morning’s Kiran Chetry called it “a day for the ages” and Fox & Friends Gretchen Carlson dubbed it a “very special day.” It is indeed historic: when President-elect Barrack Obama takes the oath of office, America will have it first black or biracial president.

According to a recent CNN poll (January 12-15, 2009), an overwhelming majority of blacks say that Martin Luther King’s vision has been fulfilled. Almost on schedule. In a recently released BBC interview, Dr. King foresaw the election of a black American president “in less than forty years”: he was only four years off.

To all of America’s citizens, like FDR and Reagan before him, a handsome, charismatic, eloquent, and optimistic Obama offers much needed hope in dire economic times. Will he similarly succeed? He appears confident and eager: Let us all hope that he and his experienced team are up to this momentous task.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/default.stm