Did CNN Give Itself Props for a June 25th Rolling Stone Story?

Mark Seliger's photo of Janis Adkins for Jeff Tietz's Rolling Stone Article

As much as any mainstream media brand, Rolling Stone Magazine has been unflinching and relentless when it comes hardcore journalism devoted to uncovering the myriad complex truths behind the economic collapse of 2008 and what greed is doing to the fabric our our nation.

Matt Taibbi's august 29th cover story exposing the real story behind Mitt Romney's troubling tenure at Bain Capital is just the latest in a series of hard-hitting exposes on the insatiable greed of Wall Street players and Big Banks that reveal how America's middle class had been systematically, intentionally and ruthlessly gutted with the help of complacent federal regulators like the SEC, soul-less Congressional legislators who represent a narrow-minded "Ayn Rand-ian" ideology rather than their constituents, and the billionaires bankrolling Romney's run for president.

While Taibbi's work is Pulitzer-worthy in my opinion, I was also particularly moved by a compelling human interest story in the June 25th issue of Rolling Stone by Jeff Tietz that looked closely at how some middle class Americans forced to live out of their vehicles were coping with the help of a program called Safe Parking that allows homeless people a safe lot where they can spend the night in their car, van or SUV; New Beginnings Counseling Center runs the program.

So I was kind of surprised when I saw a CNN report last Friday (September 7th) morning by reporter Kyung Lah that struck me as a more compact made-for-CNN retread of Tietz's Rolling Stone story, entitled "The Sharp, Sudden Decline of America's Middle Class". Don't get me wrong, I totally applaud CNN for devoting coverage to the plight of Americans displaced by the Great Recession and the realities of being homeless in the most prosperous nation in the world. But as a former television reporter myself, I felt like Ms. Lah should have at least given some kind of shout-out or recognition to Rolling Stone, or made some reference to the fact that Jeff Tietz had rolled up his sleeves and written an informative and emotionally wrenching piece 3 months before CNN ran their segment.

Watch the report for yourself. At different times last Friday both Ashleigh Banfield and Wolf Blitzer gave reporter Kyung Lah thanks from the anchor desk for her reporting. In fact, after the conclusion of the late morning segment, Ms. Banfield actually looked a little misty-eyed when she thanked Lah for the report in a subdued voice.

It's certainly not breaking news that CNN has been going through a series of personnel and programming shake-ups over the course of the last year as it's ratings have slipped to a 20-year low. Back in July, CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton (a 30-year CNN vet) announced his resignation effective at the end of the year to make room for "new thinking" in an effort to pump new life into the cable news channel started by media mogul Ted Turner.

I'm no media insider, but it seems to me if CNN wants to make it's product more relevant to a broader news audience, it needs to attract the kind of talent that can create that content. Parent company Time Warner is a media behemoth with deep pockets that can certainly afford to invest money in more cutting-edge content creators.

But trying to make your brand more like Jann Wenner's Rolling Stone (which has boosted it's own audience with hard-hitting coverage of how the economic collapse is affecting Americans) by using their content to develop CNN pieces for broadcast strikes me as rather unoriginal.

Look, I'm a blogger who writes about stuff I see in print or online - but I don't sell ad space on my little blog, it's just an outlet for me to practice my own version of "Citizen Journalism" and besides, I think I make a decent effort at crediting the writers and media sources who create the content that catches my eye.

Some CNN producer leafing through their June 25th copy of Rolling Stone then sending Kyung Lah out to California with a cameraman to do a piece that's clearly based on Jeff Tietz's work isn't plagiarism or anything; but it strikes me as lazy journalism given the scope of CNN's resources and their desire to make a genuine effort to recast their brand.

It's all about content creation, and you should either create it, credit it, or bring some kind of new or unique perspective to the story. While I'm still a CNN watcher, I just don't think Lah's CNN piece offered anything new and Jeff Tietz and Rolling Stone should've gotten credit somewhere rather than kind of making it seem like Lah had come up with the idea.

Just sayin'.