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This is the stupidest thing ever. The people at CNN obviously have NO idea what constitutes IRONY, and in dramatic fashion they are making themselves a laughingstock.

Now, this will probably pass unnoticed by 99.9% of people, and maybe I'm just too sensitive to the media bastardizing stories, but this just pisses me right off:

CNN is running a story on their website right now with the HEADLINE saying "Paper: Diet guru Dr. Atkins was obese at time of death". Millions of people like me clicked on the story, baffled by how a diet guru could possibly have been OBESE when he died. The story goes on to say he weighed 268 pounds at the time of his death.

LATER the story goes on to say that the weight gain was a result of fluids accumulating in his body after he slipped into a coma and gained 60 pounds between the time of his coma and his death. THEN, in the most hilariously sad-but-true turn of events ever, CNN quotes an Atkins relative as saying - and this is a quote - ""How and why the Journal reported that he was obese, remains the only unanswered question in this pathetic situation."

So to summarize...CNN took a story about an outrageous lie about Atkins and USED THE SAME F*CKING HEADLINE to sell the story while in the same article PEOPLE WERE QUOTED AS SAYING THE CLAIM WAS PATHETIC!!!! What the f*ck is wrong with these media whores?!
In case anyone is in need of a good laugh, here is the last half of the article, long past the point where CNN makes the story about Atkins:

Atkins widow outraged

Trager said the weight was added between his accident and his death, and in fact Atkins weighed less than 200 pounds at the time he was injured.

"During his coma, as he deteriorated and his major organs failed, fluid retention and bloating dramatically distorted his body and left him at 258 pounds at the time of his death, a documented weight gain of over 60 pounds," the doctor said in a written statement. "How and why the Journal reported that he was obese, remains the only unanswered question in this pathetic situation."

The medical examiner's report was given to the Journal by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group that advocates vegetarianism. The medical examiner's office told the Journal that the report had been sent to the group in error.

Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the New York City office of the chief medical examiner, said the records would not be released to anyone else, but they clearly indicate that Atkins died from the head injury.

The diet guru's widow, Veronica Atkins, was outraged that the report had been made public and called those who gave the medical examiner's report to the newspaper "extremists."

"I have been assured by my husband's physicians that my husband's health problems late in life were completely unrelated to his diet or any diet," she told the Journal.

Last month, Veronica Atkins demanded an apology from Mayor Michael Bloomberg after Bloomberg called her late husband "fat."

In April 2002, Atkins issued a statement saying he was recovering from cardiac arrest related to a heart infection he had suffered from "for a few years." He said it was "in no way related to diet."
I think the bottom line here is the almighty $$
Grooveless...
What makes you so certain that the CANADIAN media doesn't do the same exact thing with news stories??
highwaygirl28 Wrote:Grooveless...
What makes you so certain that the CANADIAN media doesn't do the same exact thing with news stories??

They do. Smile

in my opinion the Canadian media don't do it quite as bad, but its still present for sure. I remember being a child and watching the news while my parents did (at the time it was the most boring experience of my life) and it was news, reports of events, weather, sports etc.. The media today has taken a drastic turn for the worse and reports mainly the shocker stories for ratings sake. sad sad sad.
CNN boggles my mind. A fun thing to do if you are bored, is re-read the same stories and see how the stories continuously change or see the different ways in which they frame stories...

Here is a good story:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/02/09/iraq.resort.base.ap/index.html">http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast ... index.html</a><!-- m -->

I wonder where the poor Iraqi children get to "relax" and play basketball, swim, receive massages, etc. :roll:
highwaygirl28 Wrote:Grooveless...
What makes you so certain that the CANADIAN media doesn't do the same exact thing with news stories??

They do it all the time. They're just a day behind cause they\'re copying off of media down south. Wink <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/story.asp?id=13A297C6-F6CB-490F-B092-F9EF27C29A3F">http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryhe ... EF27C29A3F</a><!-- m -->

At any rate, the Atkins diet is very controversial. My fiencee who will be graduating from Med school in May is totally against it. A LOT of research points towards heart problems with the Atkins diet.
Absurdly, CNN has changed the title of their Atkins story to "Widow outraged at media reports of obesity". This is just goddamned stupid. They act like they're not included in the "media" that reported it.

And I'm not saying the Canadian media doesn't do it, but I find CNN's website often contains titles completely inappropriate for the articles that are either misleading or flagrantly troubling, like this one!
This entire thread just serves to remind me why I have programmed my converter to skip over CNN... :lol:

If I want fabricated news, I much prefer this:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.theonion.com/index.php?show_p=2">http://www.theonion.com/index.php?show_p=2</a><!-- m -->

:thumb:

M.
that is one awesome website!! :thumb:
It's just the way the media is, they are your best buddy one minute(if you are important or famous ala Howard Dean) and the next they are tearing you apart looking for the next big story. The way the media operates today almost reminds me of cannabalism :lol:
grooveless touque Wrote:And I'm not saying the Canadian media doesn't do it, but I find CNN's website often contains titles completely inappropriate for the articles that are either misleading or flagrantly troubling, like this one!


Then perhaps a better thread title might have been "Why I hate CNN"...

I agree with you though, that Atkins story is incredibly ironic and stupid. :lol:
Last Stop, I'm not going to say I detest just CNN because every night I watch some American program somewhere on the TV dial and I see "WHAT VEGETABLES CAN KILL YOU!!! The stuff your doctor doesn't want you to know!!! Tonight at 11." This could be CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, any of them.

Here in Halifax - and maybe it's just because it's Halifax - our local news has a pleasant sounding (read: OLD) voice saying things like "80 years ago such and such happened, tonight we look back" or "Did you know your furnace can malfunction after just 5 years? We'll have Consumer Insider tonight at 11."

Living in Halifax, listening to our local news stations, you could be forgiven for thinking the world isn't about to explode in hatred and pestilence. I respect that. I DO NOT need to be jolted out of my pre-bedtime reverie with shocking news about the 2 carjackings that constitute a "suburban crisis" like it's an imminent threat to myself and those I hold dear...hello, American news outlets, I'm talking to you!!
grooveless touque Wrote:I DO NOT need to be jolted out of my pre-bedtime reverie with shocking news about the 2 carjackings that constitute a "suburban crisis" like it's an imminent threat to myself and those I hold dear...hello, American news outlets, I'm talking to you!!


You're right, you don't need to be, since your TV and radio presumably have tuning dials on them.

Besides, you just admitted yourself a few posts ago that the Canadian media does the same damn thing.
It's not as bad in Canada. By a wide margin. Not only are there many fewer violent crimes here (individual fights in the streets make the news here to fulfill the society-falling-apart quota, and every court appearance by anyone that has ever happened in this town has been all over the news because there's a lack of murders and dog maulings to report), but our media does not brandish violent stories as a selling point. When there are stories about violent acts or things "you need to know", we're not bludgeoned by some doomsday prophet in a nice suit. American news feeds on fear, and if you ever watched the news in any Canadian city besides Toronto, you would be shocked at the difference. I've been all over this continent - yes, even in your own fine nation - and I know what I'm talking about.

I want to make clear thoughl, that I don't have some rabid anti-American bias. It's mostly your media I resent, because Canadians are swamped with the US media; we're not nearly so independent as we might like to think. Heck, my last girlfriend was American and I can't wait to visit the Pacific Northwest again. You have a great country, but on a political level (which includes anything from hard-core politics to the way the media operates), I don't like how things work in the US.
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