Thursday, April 16, 2009

CNN "reporter"

I saw mention of a CNN reporter who was apparently critical of a tea party rally in Chicago, but I skipped over the story, thinking so what. As I was passing the TV though, Fox was running the clip in question.

I looked closely, realizing that I recognized the "reporter." It's Susan Roesgen, who used to be an anchor in New Orleans in the '90's.

I actually had an interview with her when I worked in Metairie. She was doing a report on Norplant, a contraceptive device that had just been released. The personal injury lawyers had decided to take it down, so there was some controversy (not well-founded) about it's safety. If I remember correctly, Roesgen's channel ran a few pitiful stories about women claiming they had been injured. The station was looking for a GYN's perspective on the product, and somehow ended up calling on me.

Roesgen and a cameraman showed up in my office, and spent about 15-20 minutes asking me questions. I was honest and open, but could tell by her line of questioning that she was convinced that Norplant was a terrible product; at the end she seemed less than pleased with my answers. When the segment aired, those 15-20 minutes had been distilled down to less than 8 seconds. Much of what I thought was cogent and reasoned discussion was gone. When I last heard of her, she was leaving New Orleans for something on the National Geographic channel, a venture which didn't work out to well, I guess.

But there she is, "reporting" for CNN. You don't often see a "reporter" wagging her fingers in someone's face.

A few quick questions about the tea parties:
Were any cop cars turned over?
Any store front windows smashed?
Any garbage cans set afire?
Any gas canisters set off?
Any attacks on law enforcement?
Any Bush or Obama mannequins burned in effigy?

Whether you agree or disagree with the tea parties, as a "reporter" your personal feelings should not enter into your job. But now knowing who it is, I'm not surprised.

2 comments:

Sarah said...

Clearly, Pops, you don't know how the media works.

Small Town Doc said...

Clearly, my little red one, you should listen to your elders. Why, in my day, we didn't have the Interweb. We had to snatch snippets of news from the ether with our bare hands, and since it was electronical, it ended up shockin' ya. Didn't have eyebrows for most of my twenties.